The Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO) is a pan-European Islamic organisation based in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium, representing 32 Muslim youth organisations across 22 European countries. FEMYSO is a member of the

European Students' Union The European Students' Union (ESU) is the umbrella organisation of 44 national unions of students from 40 countries, representing almost 20 million students. A consultative member of the Bologna Process, ESU is also a full member of the Europe ...

, which considers it the '' de facto'' voice of Muslim youth in Europe. It has been accused of having links with the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

Controversies

Closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood

FEMYSO has been accused of being linked with the

and of being one of its main relays in Europe. One of the organisation's former leaders is Intissar Kherigi, the daughter of

Rached Ghannouchi Rached Ghannouchi (; born 22 June 1941), also spelled Rachid al-Ghannouchi or Rached el-Ghannouchi, is a Tunisian politician, the co-founder of the Ennahdha Party and serving as its intellectual leader. He was born Rashad Khriji (). Ghannou ...

, who headed the Tunisian Islamist

Ennahdha The Ennahda Movement (; ), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Founded as the Movement of Islamic Tendency in 1981, Ennahda was inspired by the Egypti ...

party (inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood). While holding responsibilities within FEMYSO, Kherigi participated in 2011 in the preparation of a joint report with the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

entitled: "Combating Islamophobia through Intercultural and Interreligious Work". This document also included a statement by the Swiss

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood,

Tariq Ramadan Tariq Ramadan (, ; born 26 August 1962) is a Swiss Muslim academic, philosopher and writer. He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at St Antony's College, Oxford and the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, He is ...

. FEMYSO has strongly denied any such links, with its president, Hania Chalal, responding that "FEMYSO is not associated, either structurally or ideologically, with any association". In 2023, it was revealed that a campaign, commissioned and financed by the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, was orchestrated by a Swiss company named "Alp Services" specialising in "dark PR", damaging and often destroying the reputation of hundreds of prominent European Muslims by spreading baseless rumours. In May 2025, FEMYSO was mentioned in a

French intelligence This is a list of current and former French intelligence agencies. Currently active *DGSE: Directorate-General for External Security – '' Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure''. It is the military foreign intelligence agency, whi ...

report on the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country, entitled "Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islamism in France". According to this report, FEMYSO is the "youth branch of the Council of European Muslims (CEM)" and acts as a "training structure for high-potential executives of the movement, in which French activists are very active". The report also accused FEMYSO of "seeking to present itself as a moderate player with recognised expertise on

Islamophobia Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

and

religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...

s" while "promoting to MPs an evolution of freedom of religion, including tougher legislation on

blasphemy Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...

" and by "opposing the appointment of a European Commissioner for European values, in charge of migration".

Promotion of the wearing of the hijab

In 2021, FEMYSO launched a campaign encouraging the wearing of the

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

, which included slogans such as "Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in hijab" and "Joy in the hijab". The campaign, managed by the Council of Europe and co-funded by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, was widely criticised in the French political class, leading to its removal from Twitter and from the Council of Europe's website.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.femyso.org/ European student organizations Groups of students' unions Islamic youth organizations