European Youth Group Eid Reception Includes High Level European Officials

On 21 May 2021, the Forum of Euro­pean Mus­lim Youth and Stu­dent Orga­ni­za­tions (FEMYSO) held a vir­tu­al Eid recep­tion that was joined by a Swedish MP and high-lev­el Coun­cil of Europe offi­cials. Accord­ing to a Face­book post announc­ing the event:

This Fri­day 21st May at 17:15 (CET) join us in wel­com­ing speak­ers from key Euro­peans Insti­tu­tions and Civ­il Soci­ety organ­i­sa­tions shar­ing their mes­sages of sol­i­dar­i­ty with Mus­lims all over Europe on this spe­cial occasion.

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The live-streamed event, which was mod­er­at­ed by FEMYSO Vice-Pres­i­dent Hiba Latreche, was co-host­ed by FEMYSO and the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment Anti-Racism and Diver­si­ty Inter­group (ARDI), a cross-polit­i­cal par­ty group­ing that pro­motes racial equi­ty and counter-racism in the work of the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment. The recep­tion was addressed by FEMYSO Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee mem­bers Burak Barut and Abdel­rah­man Rizk and fea­tured the fol­low­ing guest speakers:

• Momod­ou Mal­colm Jal­low, mem­ber of the Swedish Par­lia­ment and Coun­cil of Europe Gen­er­al Rap­por­teur on Com­bat­ing Racism & Intolerance.

• Daniel Hölt­gen, Coun­cil of Europe Direc­tor of Com­mu­ni­ca­tions and Spe­cial Rep­re­sen­ta­tive on Anti­se­mit­ic, Anti-Mus­lim and Oth­er Forms of Reli­gious Intol­er­ance and Hate Crimes.

• Rui Gomes, Head of the Edu­ca­tion and Train­ing Divi­sion at the Coun­cil of Europe Youth Department.

• Zamzam Ibrahim, Vice-Pres­i­dent of the Euro­pean Stu­dents Union, where FEMYSO is an asso­ciate mem­ber.

• Abdel Bet­ta­har, a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Finnish FEMYSO mem­ber Nuorten Mus­lim­ien Foorumi.

• Sil­ja Markku­la, Pres­i­dent of the Euro­pean Youth Forum, a Brus­sels-based stu­dent rights orga­ni­za­tion rep­re­sent­ing stu­dents with respect to Euro­pean insti­tu­tions and the Coun­cil of Europe.

FEMYSO is the youth/student arm of the Coun­cil of Euro­pean Mus­lims, known to rep­re­sent the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in Europe. One of the impor­tant lead­ers of FEMYSO over the years has been Ger­man Mus­lim Broth­er­hood leader Ibrahim El-Zay­at. In recent times, its lead­er­ship has been drawn from the fam­i­ly of impor­tant Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood lead­ers. Almost all of the FEMYSO mem­ber orga­ni­za­tions are also tied to the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in Europe. Over the years, FEMYSO has devel­oped rela­tion­ships with the Coun­cil of Europe, the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion, and many oth­er sig­nif­i­cant orga­ni­za­tions at the Euro­pean and inter­na­tion­al level.

Pri­or GIOR report­ing on FEMYSO has included:

• In Octo­ber 2020, the GIOR report­ed on FEMYSO’s ties to the Col­lec­tive Against Islam­o­pho­bia in France (CCIF), which was iden­ti­fied as an Islamist influ­ence operation.

• In Octo­ber 2020, the GIOR report­ed that FEMYSO was among a group of civ­il soci­ety orga­ni­za­tions with links to the Euro­pean Mus­lim Broth­er­hood call­ing for the adop­tion of anti-racist leg­is­la­tion mit­i­gat­ing the impact of Covid-19 on Mus­lim communities.

• In Novem­ber 2020, the GIOR report­ed that FEMYSO host­ed an anti-Islam­o­pho­bia event with sev­er­al top EU officials.

• In Jan­u­ary 2021, the GIOR report­ed that FEMYSO had issued a state­ment prais­ing a deci­sion to allow reli­gious cloth­ing in High­er Edu­ca­tion in the Wal­lo­nia-Brus­sels region.