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30.10.03, 01:19
GERMAN officials backed down Tuesday on a threat to close the King Fahad
Academy in Bonn, but warned it to comply with a series of measures
restricting its activities.
Juergen Rotors, who heads the city government of Cologne, western Germany,
said it had reached an agreement with the Saudis to give the Academy a fresh
start. The school will have to confine itself to its scholastic mission,
he told a press conference. He said it was a final chance for the school,
which would continue to be systematically monitored.
Rotors had previously indicated that his administration wanted to close the
academy because of its alleged fundamentalist activities. Although the
school is privately run and funded, the local authority has oversight rights.
Last week, officials in Cologne said the school had suspended a teacher for
reportedly urging students to wage a jihad against the West during prayers
at its mosque.
According to the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, German officials feared
the school was becoming a magnet for militants, some of whom have been
linked to probes by federal prosecutors into the Al-Qaeda network.
Education officials were also worried that it was increasingly emphasizing
religious instruction over academic studies.
The school, founded in 1994, currently has some 460 pupils up to the age of
18, around 200 of whom have German nationality.
Rotors said he had been determined to close the academy until a solution was
found at the last minute following talks with the Saudi embassy and the
German foreign ministry.
He said the measures included ensuring German language tuition, restriction
of Islamic and any other activities on or off the campus that might
encourage extremists, and allowing access to the mosque to students and
staff only.
Staff with connections to extremists would be replaced, as would those who
preached violence or aggressive fundamentalism, he added.
Separately, a supervisory committee is to be created to monitor compliance
with the measures.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed his concerns over the school
during a visit to Riyadh earlier this month, when Saudi officials promised
to review the matter.
