AMSTERDAM (Anadolu) – Some city governments in the Netherlands have been secretly investigating mosques and Muslim institutions through private companies, local media have reported.
Dutch daily NRC reported that at least 10 municipalities in the country have been investigating mosques, imams, mosque association officials, and people active in the community.
According to the report, the municipalities involved in such investigations include Rotterdam, Delft, Almere, Huizen, Leidschendam-Voorburg, Zoetermeer, Veenendaal, and Ede.
The newspaper added that the Utrecht Municipality had stopped its investigation due to concerns about privacy and the method of the probe.
The report claimed that the NTA (Nuance door Training en Advies), a consultancy firm that informs the government on Muslims, was paid by the national coordinator for security through municipalities.
Around €300,000 ($347,990) has been spent so far on the secret investigations, according to the report.
The NTA employees doing investigations posed as members of the community or visitors and met numerous people without revealing their true identities, the report added.
According to the daily, findings on the backgrounds of imams and administrators, such as where they came from or their schooling, were submitted to the municipalities as “secret information” by the NTA.
Dutch Muslims criticized the secret investigations.
Muhsin Koktas, head of the Dutch Muslim Organization for Government Relations, told Anadolu Agency that they were greatly disappointed by the news.
Underlining that for years Muslims have been working to be good citizens in the Netherlands, Koktas said: “With such actions the state is constantly derailing our efforts. For this reason, they lose the trust of Muslims instead of gaining it.”
“This causes discrimination in society,” he said. “We will convey these concerns to the authorized state institutions and consult on what measures they will take to prevent it from happening again.”
Tunahan Kuzu, a Turkish-born Dutch lawmaker and founding member of the pro-migrant political party Denk, echoed Koktas’s remarks, saying that the situation damaged Muslims’ trust in the Dutch government.