By IAN STEWARD – The Press
A
Muslim slaughterman’s attempts to discredit the New Zealand meat
industry have drawn the attention of the country’s spy service.
Meat
Industry Association members said they were contacted by the Security
Intelligence Service (SIS) this week after Ahmed Ghanem, an
Egyptian-born halal slaughterman now living in Christchurch, published
articles on a British website decrying New Zealand slaughter methods as
inhumane and contrary to Islamic practice.
Ghanem said he and other anti-stunning activists in the Muslim world
had successfully sought a fatwa, or religious ruling, from senior
clerics condemning the practice.
Meat industry figures in New Zealand have called Ghanem a “troublemaker”.
They fear his comments could affect the multimillion-dollar
industry, particularly in the Gulf states, where New Zealand has
extensive markets.
Meat Industry Association management support officer Michael Pran
said Ghanem could provoke Muslim states such as Malaysia and Indonesia
to send inspectors to review New Zealand methods.
“He could scare people and that could harm the industry,” he said. “The SIS are on his case. They are looking at it as well.”
The SIS could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
Its website lists “protecting New Zealand from threats to our international and economic wellbeing” as one of its tasks.
Ghanem’s essay, published online at unstunnedhalal.com said New
Zealand methods, which involve stunning animals with electrodes before
slaughter, violated Islamic codes.
Halal slaughter stipulates an animal must be killed by one fast cut to the neck so the animal bleeds to death.
It must face Mecca, and the slaughterman must evoke the name of God by saying “Bismallah Allahu Akbar”.
Ghanem told The Press that in his time as a slaughterman, animals
often reached his knife already dead from the stunning procedure, which
was akin to eating carrion and therefore non-halal.
Many of the animals would not bleed when cut and the rate of killing
up to eight a minute did not allow sufficient time for religious
observances.
“Where is the respect for the animal? You don’t have time,” he said.
When he took his concerns to his employers he was fired, he said.
Ghanem said he and other anti-stunning activists had sought a fatwa
from influential Egyptian Muslim scholar and cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
who ruled against the process.
Ghanem’s former employer, New Zealand Islamic Meat Management
director Dr Mohammed Abdel-Al, said Ghanem’s comments could have a
serious impact on New Zealand’s exports and needed to be discredited.
“If you’ve got a twisted branch, you’ve got to cut it,” he said.
Abdel-Al said stunning livestock before slaughter was a legal requirement in New Zeal-and.
Stunning made the animal docile and reduced danger to the slaughterman, Abdel-Al said.
He said Ghanem worked for his company briefly but was “let go” after
becoming aggressive with his plant manager over his concerns.
An industry paper released to The Press said it was “conceivable
that in rare instances animals could be harmed or even killed by
electrical stunning”.
“In any such case, it would be the responsibility of the Muslim slaughterman to identify such an animal,” it said.
