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The country’s ombudswoman, Anna Šabatová and her deputy, Stanislav Křeček, have expressed differing opinions in the case of two Muslim nursing school students last year who were banned from wearing the hijab headscarf in the classroom. The ombudswoman this week described the move as discriminatory. The school defended the ban on the grounds that any headwear in class was “antisocial”. The school’s principal contended the ban had not prevented the students, who since left the school, from practicing their religion. Deputy ombudsman Křeček said he viewed the school as within its rights to issue a ban, but he stressed that was his personal opinion as an independent lawyer. The school in question, meanwhile, has altered its policy, allowing the principal to make exceptions for religious students.

The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Lubomír Zaorálek, says the country disagrees with any linking of violence and religion. Mr. Zaorálek made the comments to diplomats from Arab states in Prague on Tuesday. The move followed angry reactions after the Czech president, Miloš Zeman, told an audience in Israel that there was a link between violent attacks by Islamic radicals and “Islamic ideology”. The foreign minister said the Czech Republic supported religious tolerance and aspired to have good relations with the Arab world.

The Czech Republic could face trade sanctions from Saudi Arabia over anti-Islamic remarks by President Miloš Zeman, the Czech foreign minister says. Mr Zeman’s comments, linking terrorism to “Islamic ideology” were also condemned by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation but its demands for an apology have been rejected by the Czech head of state.

The Czech ambassador to Riyad, Jiří Slavík, was summoned to the Saudi Foreign Ministry on Sunday to hear a complaint about President Miloš Zeman's anti-Muslim statements, the daily Lidové noviny reported on Friday. According to the paper the ambassador heard a resolute complaint about a number of the president’s statements the most recent of which pertained to the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels. Speaking at an Israeli reception President Zeman noted that Islamic ideology was behind such violent attacks. The Czech Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over what it described as heightened tension in Czech-Saudi relations. Foreign Minister Zaorálek said he had invited Arab ambassadors to the Czech Foreign Ministry next week and would discuss the matter with them.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka reacted to the news on Friday saying that the president’s statements should not be blown out of proportion and that he had no indication that Saudi Arabia was considering economic sanctions against the Czech Republic over the issue.

President Miloš Zeman has refused to apologise for statements he made linking “Islamic ideology” and violence, the Czech News Agency reported on Tuesday, quoting his spokesman. The international Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had called on the Czech head of state to retract a statement he made in Israel at the end of last month, when, speaking about an attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels, he said Islamic ideology had motivated similar acts of violence. Mr. Zeman said apologising for quoting from Islamic texts would constitute “blasphemy”.

The Czech Interior Ministry has found that the police broke no laws when they raided two Islamic centres in Prague two weeks ago, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said after a meeting the police president. The organized crime unit of the Czech police raided a mosque and an Islamic community centre in the capital, quoting the distribution of a racist book as the reason. The operation came under criticism by Muslim community leaders as well as some foreign diplomats and public figures. On Friday, Minister Chovanec said he had asked police bosses to consider all possible aspects and risks of any such operation in the future.

A recent dramatic police raid of two Islamic centres in Prague has put the spotlight on the country’s Muslim community. Community leaders have denounced the operation as excessive but the police have charged one man over the distribution of an allegedly xenophobic book. So why did Czech Muslims publish a book by a radical Wahabi author? In this edition of In Focus, we discuss the situation of the Czech Muslim community with Bronislav Ostřanský from the Czech Academy of Sciences. I first asked him about the book, The Fundamentals of Tawheed by Bilal

Some 300 Muslims staged a prayer in Prague’s Letná Park outside the Czech Interior Ministry on Friday, in protest against last week’s police raid of two Islamic centres in the capital. The police raided a mosque and a prayer room during last week’s Friday prayers over the publication of a book which allegedly incited religious hatred; one man has been charged with hate speech crimes and faces up to 10 years in prison. On Friday, the head of the Czech Muslim community, Muneeb Hassan Alrawi warned against a surge of islamophobia which could have been triggered by the raid. The police operation has also come been criticized as inadequate by some politicians and public figures.

The Czech ambassador to Indonesia, Tomáš Smetánka, was summoned to the country’s foreign ministry to explain the circumstances surrounding Czech police raids on Islamic sites in Prague last week, the Jakarta Post newspaper has reported. It cited a text message from foreign minister Marty Natalegawa as its source of information. Indonesians, including the embassy’s social and culture secretary, were among those apprehended when police swooped during Friday prayers. One person was charged by police with propagating hate crime. Czech minister of interior Marcel Chovanec has called for a police investigation into the incident, saying the timing was insensitive and excessive force appeared to have been used.

Minister of the Interior Marcel Chovanec has called for a police investigation into last Friday’s raid on Islamic sites in Prague, according to a report by the news server Aktuálně.cz on Tuesday. The minister is reported to feel that the intervention was insensitive and used excessive force. Members of the special police squad for combatting organised crime raided the headquarters of Prague’s Islamic Foundation and a mosque on the outskirts of the city during Friday prayers. Around 20 people were detained and charges relating to the propagation of hate crime were pressed against one of them. The Islamic community has complained itself about the police raid.