Muslim Countries Urge Int’l Action after Islamophobic Quran Desecration
A motion presented at the UN human rights body on Tuesday urges countries to examine their laws and close any loopholes that may “impede the prevention and prosecution of acts and advocacy of religious hatred.”
The discussion has exposed divisions in the UN Human Rights Council between the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Western members who are worried about the impact of the motion on free speech and the challenges it poses to established practices in rights protection.
Last month, an Iraqi immigrant to Sweden tore and burned a copy of the Holy Quran outside a Stockholm mosque during the Eid al-Adha holiday, causing anger among Muslims and violent protests in several Pakistani cities.
“We must see this clearly for what it is: incitement to religious hatred, discrimination and attempts to provoke violence,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told the Geneva-based council via video. He added that such acts occurred under “government sanction and with the sense of impunity.”
‘Stop abusing freedom of expression’
Bhutto Zardari’s statements were supported by ministers from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, with the latter submitting a motion at the UN denouncing the Quran burning as an act of “Islamophobia”.
“Stop abusing freedom of expression,” said Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. “Silence means complicity.”
In 2020, members of a Danish far-right group burned a copy of the Quran in Stockholm, days after a similar incident in the southern city of Malmo.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called on Sweden and European countries to take “urgent and effective measures” against such incidents.
Lolwah Rashid Al-Khater, Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, reiterated Doha’s condemnation and blamed agendas that “sow hatred and fuel divisions among Muslims and their communities’ people, in addition to offending the faith of billions of human beings worldwide.”
Some Western countries denounced the stunts but also defended “free speech”. The UK, US and some European Union member countries rejected condemning the burning of the Quran during the debate.
Germany’s UN Ambassador Katharina Stasch claimed that “freedom of speech sometimes also means to tolerate opinions that may seem almost intolerable” but did not mention how far Berlin is ready to tolerate Muslims’ beliefs.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, told the council that inflammatory acts against Muslims as well as other religions or minorities are “offensive, irresponsible and wrong.”
The council is set to continue debate on Wednesday as Muslims expect ratification of a resolution against desecrations.
Source: Agencies
