“Fascist” Saudi money rejected
Salmann Talmimi, former Director of the Icelandic Muslim Association. Photo: Golli
Salmann Tamimi, former Director of the Icelandic Muslim Association, has announced that there is no way the association will be accepting money from Saudi Arabia. The statement was in response to a Facebook status posted by Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, MP for the Social Democratic Alliance (‘Samflykingin’).
As reported on mbl.is yesterday, the Saudi Arabian authorities have pledged ISK 135 million (€907,000) towards a mosque for the Icelandic Muslim Association. Vilhelmsdóttir reacted by posting a question to Tamimi on Facebook.
Reactionary Saudi Arabia
“Salmann Tamimi. Will you/we have to accept the reactionary views of Saudi Arabia along with this money?” read Vilhelmsdóttir’s status.
Tamimi quickly replied that the association would never accept money from Saudi Arabia.
“The Icelandic Muslim Association will never accept gifts from the fascist State of Saudi Arabia. We were never asked and do not want anything from them. We respect the Saudi people and wish to help them in their struggle,” declared Tamimi.
Association must keep independence
Yesterday evening, the Director of the Icelandic Muslim Association, Ibrahim Sverrir Agnarsson, told mbl.is that he had only heard of the offer from the media. Unlike Tamimi, he did not rule out accepting the money entirely but did state that there could be no question of accepting it if it came with any provisos which might curtail the independence of the association.
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