BERLIN: A German court has upheld the right of a German-Egyptian man to call his young son Djehad, after officials had refused to allow him to enter the name in the registry of births, AFP reported.
The name, often written as Jihad, means personal struggle but has been used over the past few years as a synonymous to ‘holy war.’
According to the French Press Agency, The court in Berlin said the name had very strong negative connotations after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 but that it was essentially harmless.
With the choice of the first name Djehad for their son, the parents have not endangered the well-being of the child, the court ruled.
It added: The fact that radical Islamists have recently used the word in the sense of an armed struggle against non-believers using terrorist means changes nothing.
The father of the boy, Reda Seyam, brought the case before the court after officials had refused to allow him to enter the name in the registry of births.
The 49-year-old Seyam was charged by Munich prosecutors last week with incitement to racial hatred and membership of a banned organization, prosecutor s office spokeswoman Barbara Stockinger said. – AFP and Daily News Egypt
