Belgian language book for migrants refers to bombs, jails

An Iraqi refugee and his Belgian teacher are dismayed to have been given a French lesson book with references to bomb throwers and jails, suggesting that migrants might be extremists.

Raad Al Azzawi, 38, has been taking French lessons at a school in a Brussels suburb since September. He was given the book to learn and practice the language. The text contained sentences such as: “Daddy throws a bomb and goes to prison.”; “I am eating sandwiches in prison.”; “He shows me the bomb and the prison.”

Al Azzawi tells The Associated Press Thursday that “in Iraq, there is a lot of misery, and I saw these writings and frankly, I was very sad.”

His teacher, Catherine Lemaire, said it suggests asylum-seekers are “considered either as stupid or as terrorists and for me this is unacceptable.”

— AP