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A Boy Named Jihad
Berlin's Interior Ministry is appealing against a Berlin court's decision to allow a father to name his son Jihad.
Reda Seyam - a self-described Islamist who has praised the September 11 attacks and the 2002 terror bombing in Bali - claims the name is "loved by Muslims" worldwide. However, Berlin's City Police Department argues that naming the boy Jihad goes against the child's interest. The district council originally argued that a name "associated with terrorism" could "endanger the child's well-being."
Germany - in common with several other northern European nations - has an approved list of names for children, designed to protect youngsters from abuse and confusion. One can imagine that as immigration has increased throughout Europe, there must have been a series of clashes when newcomers tried to give names which the state has failed to add to the approved list.
While Germany's Muslim Turkish minority has had no trouble with the list recently, Seyam's choice of Jihad was thought to go beyond the pale.
After an 18 month battle, however, the Berlin court ruled that Jihad was admissable. Seyam, reports the Guardian, appeared on television with his son, boasting that the baby's "struggle has only begun."
