OIC Sec-Gen Warns of ‘Alarming’ Level of Islamophobia

TEHRAN (IQNA) – The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has warned of the alarming level of Islamophobia in the wake of recent desecrations of the Holy Quran in Europe.

He made the remarks as the OIC convened an open-ended extraordinary meeting of its executive committee at its headquarters in Jeddah on Tuesday.

The meeting was held to express the organization’s common stance against the recent desecration of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark as well as to discuss possible actions that the OIC might take against the perpetrators of the Islamophobic attacks.

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said that these actions are not simply irresponsible but rather criminal acts targeting Muslims. “The governments concerned must take strict punitive measures, especially given the frequency of such provocative acts by the same people,” he said.

“The outrageous actions…are further evidence of the alarming levels reached by the phenomenon of Islamophobia, hate crimes, intolerance and xenophobia.

“This makes us believe that we must take urgent measures to prevent the recurrence of such provocative incidents in the future.”

Taha said that a strong message must be sent to all governments, institutions and individuals to clarify that these actions are not justifiable under freedom of expression. He highlighted that many international laws, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, clearly stipulate that freedom of expression is not an unlimited right, as it involves special duties and responsibilities.

The incidents occurred earlier this month, when Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist who holds both Danish and Swedish citizenship, received permission from the police to stage a protest outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, where on Jan. 21 he burned the Qur’an. Days later, Edwin Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the far-right Pegida movement in the Netherlands, tore pages out of a copy of the Qur’an near the Dutch Parliament and stomped on them.

In response, several regional and international organizations, including the OIC, issued statements strongly denouncing the incident.

Source: arabnews.com