Ahmed Akkari, the man behind the pig snout

"Revealed" The man behind the fake Mohammed cartoons

To many people, Ahmad Akkari, spokesman for The Danish Islamic Community is only known as "that guy with the fake snout cartoon". This time we'll look behind the snout.

It's often stated that Akkari came to Denmark in 1992, but this is only half the story - since he actually immigrated to Denmark twice!

Ahmed Akkari was born in Lebanon in 1978, and in 1985 the Akkari family - parents and 5 children - came to Denmark as refugees. The family obtained a humanitarian residence and moved to Hurup in Thy (Jutland).

Little Ahmed became the model of a super-integrated immigrant - popular in school and with the local soccer team. But in 1990 the father got ill, and preferred to be treated in Lebanon - the country from which the family had ostensibly fled. Akkari's soccer-mates bought a football and wrote all their names on it - and the family moved to Lebanon.

Aalborg Stiftstidende, February 1994 "15-year Ahmed would rather leave his family than go to Lebanon." "I am a Dane."

One year later the family returned to Denmark - the reason being that the children didn't like to live in Lebanon. This second time they didn't qualify as refugees. Ekstra Bladet writes (my translation):

But now they couldn't obtain asylum.

This resulted in Ahmed Akkari and the family often appearing in North-Jutlandic media as a family, who didn't want to return to the - one was led to believe - terrible native country, which in the mean time had become peaceful after 15 years of civil war.

Two tongues

As an example, Aalborg Stiftstidende printed an article February 1994 about the Akkari family with the title "I am a Dane".

The "Dane" was Ahmed Akkari, then 15 years old.

The curious part is that the "Dane" at this time had lived as much time in his native country Lebanon as in Denmark - and yet Akkari said:

- I don't want to go back to Lebanon; it's not my country anymore. I am a Dane now - it's only when I see myself in the mirror, I remember that I'm a foreigner.
He claimed that he didn't understand the language in Lebanon at all - in that case he must have learned Arabic after the article was printed in the Jutlandic paper.

Today Akkari's Lebanese-born wife and little daughter live in Lebanon, while he is in the process of qualifying as an imam in that country.

Humanitarian residence

In the article, the journalist described how the family had hung up paintings of Danish farmhouses and Danish pixies on the walls. On the Walkman they played "Oles nye autobil", "Jeg en gård mig bygge vil" and "Jeg ved en lærkerede".

It wasn't only Aalborg Stiftstidende that swallowed the tear-jerking story. Birthe Weiss, at that time Minister for the Interior, subsequently gave the Akkari family a humanitarian residence permit.

When the permit was secured, it was suddenly a totally different Akkari, who appeared.

Wouldn't shake hand with a woman

So tells headmaster of the Sønderbro School in Aalborg, Karen-Grethe Lodberg, who one day experienced that Ahmed Akkari wouldn't shake her hand, when she was about to hand him his exam papers.

- I have never experienced that - neither before nor later.
- Religion was nothing he displayed before he got his residence permit. But when he got it, he became orthodox, she says to Ekstra Bladet.

15-years old Ahmed Akkari: "I'm scared - and - worried. In fact we all are, because it's no fun to, like, feel persecuted, right. And there is someone who, like, is coming after you and wants to grab you. That's not funny. "

Akkari also appeared in Danish television, where he with a trembling voice would tell how scared he was. Exactly whom he was scared of remained unspecified. Just as today when "somebody" has taken him out of context, and "someone" is trying to put the blame on him.

At 22 years Akkari became Denmark's youngest imam - the same year he also became a violent offender.

Akkari worked at a Muslim free school as a trainee teacher, when he heard that a boy from Qatar, during play, had happened to tear the head scarf off Akkari's little sister. Akkari ran over to the boy, took hold of his ears so they started bleeding, pushed him over, and kicked and beat the boy.

For this he received a suspended sentence in 2001, which is the reason why Akkari wasn't able to obtain Danish citizenship before 2005. The judge was lenient on Akkari, because Akkari was a first time offender and was studying to become a teacher. If the sentence hadn't been suspended, Akkari couldn't have obtained citizenship before 2009. Needless to say, Akkari claimed to be innocent.

Ahmed Akkari is also infamous for his violent thoughts on Muslim women who don't cover their heads. Ekstra Bladet writes (my translation):

Before he in 1999 began his four-year education as teacher on Århus Seminary, he was a high school pupil at Aalborg Studenterkursus. At that time he eagerly participated in the debate about veiling of women.

In a contribution to the Muslim youth magazine "Point of View" he wrote about an episode in high school where he in vain had urged a girl on the school to wear a scarf

22-year Akkari commenting a rape case: "One knows immediately that it's going to damage the image of immigrants in Denmark, and that Danes will get a - maybe - a more negative attitude, and that it maybe will strengthen some of those who already are against immigrants and refugees."

Okay to kick women without veil

'At the same moment a long-haired boy walked by, put his hands on her shoulders and 'gave her a powerful kick from behind. Akkari writes on:

'It hurt deep inside me to see a young Muslim girl being treated like that by a rude and insensitive person, but on second thought it served her right.

Yes, I don't say this to deride her, but because it's the natural result for her kind. I am fully convinced that if she had been wearing a scarf and shown herself as a decent, proud Muslim, this would never have happened.

If - and this is only a hypothesis - if it had happened, something quite different would have come out of it. For I wouldn't just have sat there and gaped.'

The above is based on these articles from Ekstra Bladet (in Danish): Akkari: I don't speak to Ekstra Bladet , Akkari's double dealing, Fired for reporting violence-imam and Akkari stood to prison.

For a more complete translation of the articles, check out NeanderNews: Akkari the Soccer Brat, Akkari the Punk and Akkari the Punk (Cont'd)