International law should be used to stop religious hatred, says Islamic group of 57 states after extraordinary meeting
\nCAIRO
\nThe Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday said that collective measures are needed to prevent acts of desecration to the Holy Quran and international law should be used to stop religious hatred.
\nThe statement by the group of 57 member states, most of whose members have a Muslim-majority population, was issued after an extraordinary meeting in Saudi Arabia\u2019s Jeddah called to discuss Wednesday\u2019s incident in Sweden where the holy book was desecrated in a protest outside a mosque.
\n\u201cWe must send constant reminders to the international community regarding the urgent application of international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred,\u201d OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said.
\nDuring the meeting, Mr Taha called for a unified response to such incidents, describing the most recent one as a \u201cdespicable act\u201d.
\nThe Secretary-General emphasised that such incidents are not mere Islamophobia, but actions that deeply insult and offend the religious sensibilities of Muslims. As such, they require serious international measures to prevent their recurrence.
\nOn Wednesday, a man desecrated the holy book outside Stockholm\u2019s central mosque, the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holidays. The act angered OIC member Turkey whose backing Sweden needs to gain entry to the NATO military alliance.
\nSwedish police had granted permission for a protest to take place. But, after the incident, police charged the man who carried it out with agitation against an ethnic or national group.
\nThe incident has triggered large protests in Baghdad in front of the Swedish Embassy. It has also been condemned by the United States.
\nTurkey in late January suspended talks with Sweden on its NATO application after a similar incident of desecration of the Holy Quran by a Danish far-right politician near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International law should be used to stop religious hatred, says Islamic group of 57 states after extraordinary meeting CAIRO The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday said that collective measures are needed to prevent acts of desecration to the Holy Quran and international law should be used to stop religious hatred. The statement by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-340766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n