Daniel Streich (born in

Bulle Bulle (; frp, Bulo ) is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly independent municipality of La Tour-de-Trême. History Ancient times Bulle is first ...

Canton of Fribourg The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg (french: Canton de Fribourg ; german: Kanton Freiburg ; frp, Canton de Fribôrg rm, Chantun Friburg it, Canton Friburgo) is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French ...

) is a Swiss military instructor, community council member and a former member of

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (german: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; rm, Partida populara Svizra, PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (french: Union démocratique du centre, UDC; it, Unione Democratica di Centro, UDC), is a nati ...

. A

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

who converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and then to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, Streich left the Swiss People's Party over the campaign for the national ban on the construction of new minarets.

Biography

Streich was a founding member and president of the

Gruyères Gruyères (; frp, Gruviéres ; german: Greyerz) is a town in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. The medieval town is an important tourist location in the upper valley of the Saane/Sarine river, and gives its n ...

section of the party from 2003 to 2007. He converted to Islam from Catholicism in 2005. He explained that Islam offered him "logical answers to important life questions". He then resigned from his presidency in June 2007 citing his discomfort with certain "extremist" positions of the party, especially the campaign to ban nationwide the construction of new minarets. While Streich in 2007 stated that he had "many Muslim friends" he did not make public his personal conversion to Islam until early November 2009, when he left the Swiss People's Party in protest against their campaign for the impending referendum of 29 November 2009. He then participated in setting up the Conservative Democratic Party cantonal section. Streich's case was reported by the Swiss daily newspaper

20 Minuten ) , logo = 20Minuten Logo ab mai 2013.jpg , image = , caption = 20 Minutes logo (since May 2013) , alt = , type = Free daily newspaper , format = Tab ...

on 23 November, during the week preceding the referendum and the story was picked up by the tabloid newspaper

Blick ''Blick'' is a Swiss German-language daily newspaper, and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. History and profile ''Blick'' was established in 1959. The newspaper was the first Swiss tabloid publi ...

on the following day. Streich's story first appeared in English in '' Tikkun Daily'' on 4 December 2009, as part of the international coverage on the referendum outcome. An embellished version of the story appeared on the website of Pakistani newspaper ''The Nation'' on 30 January 2010. It depicted Streich as a major Swiss politician who had been actively involved in anti-Muslim propaganda, had suddenly seen the error of his "evil ways" and then converted to Islam. The report even made Streich "the first man who had launched a drive for imposition of ban on mosques minarets", claiming that "Streich's conversion to Islam has created furore in Swiss politics, besides causing a tremor for those who supported ban on construction of mosques minarets" and that he "is ashamed of his doings now and desires to construct the most beautiful mosque of Europe in Switzerland", while Streich in fact never had campaigned against mosques or Islam, and also never revealed any intention of building a mosque.

Biography

References

See also