US says Spain making headway against religious bias

Jews and Muslims continue to suffer from discrimination in Spanish society, but many steps have been taken recently to help stop such prejudice, the US State Department said in its annual report on religious freedom.

"Many challenges faced by religious groups relate to integration and addressing prejudices and perceptions (e.g., laws on wearing the burqa and hijab and construction of mosques)," said the report, which was released on Wednesday. "The growth of the immigrant population has at times led to social friction, which in isolated instances had a religious component."

Among the incidents highlighted were this year's trials of neo-Nazi members for inciting anti-Semitism and promoting anti-Zionism. It also cited a report by the Israeli Embassy in Madrid which said that it had received letters from schoolchildren from various elementary schools accusing Israel of murdering children. Some of the letters said "Jews kill for money" and "Go somewhere where they will accept you."

The State Department also described the controversies over the year regarding the burqa and hijab, and described the case of Spanish lawyer Zoubida Barik Edidi, who was forced to leave the High Court for wearing a hijab. "Edidi presented a complaint to the court, but her case was dismissed because the judge acted according to a rule which states that heads cannot be covered in court," the report said.

Still, the US government cited instances in which Spain's regional authorities have taken steps to protect different religious beliefs. Among those were the Catalan government's directive introducing guidelines on how municipalities should provide spaces to be used for religious purposes.

The report also mentioned the Madrid regional government's appointment last January of a special prosecutor to deal with hate crimes and the High Court's decision to assume jurisdiction in investigations of neo-Nazi groups under the Penal Code's terrorist crimes definition.