A Dutch police station trying to help Muslim detainees face Mecca for their prayers painted arrows in cells pointing in the wrong direction.

The Segbroek police station in The Hague borrowed the idea of putting compass marks on ceilings from an Amsterdam hotel, the Dutch daily De Telegraaf reported on Friday.

Muslims pray five times a day, facing east in the direction of Mecca. But the arrows in Segbroek pointed west.

There are 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands. The overall population is 16 million. One has to wonder just how many of those 1 million Sons of Allah are heading to jail that it necessitates painting arrows in the first place. And while we’re asking, let’s ask why their going to prison, and then decide if criminals are actually worth such apparently limitless accommodation.

I think it’s more than just the arrow painters who have lost their sense of direction.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 15th, 2007 at 9:34 am and is filed under Europe, Immigration, Islam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.