Muslims Want Int'l Law on Respecting Religions

[sonz]

By Abdul Rahman Khuzairan, Waleed Tulmasani, IOL Correspondents

MUSLIM CAPITALS, February 5, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – A cohort of Muslim dignitaries and organizations are calling for the enactment of an international law banning the publication of any insults to religious symbols and values.

"The United Nations must pass binding resolutions obliging all countries to respect religions and religious symbols, similarly to the anti-Semitism laws," Abdelaziz Belkhadem, Algerian Minister of State and personal representative of President AbdelAziz Bouteflika, told IslamOnline.net.

He accused European countries of adopting double standards in dealing with insults against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

"European laws prohibit insults against ministers and officials but allow ridiculing a sacred figure revered by millions of Muslims," said Belkhadem, a former foreign minister.

Twelve cartoons, published by Denmark's mass-circulation Jyllands-Posten late September, included portrayals of the Prophet wearing a time-bomb shaped turban and showed him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

The drawings have caused an uproar in the Muslim world and triggered a new cultural battle over freedom of speech and respect of religions.

Incensed Muslims have demonstrated against Denmark, burnt its flags and boycotted its products, while several Muslim ambassadors have been recalled in protest.

Respect

The insulting drawings have caused an uproar in the Muslim world.

Saad Al-Din Al-Othmani, the secretary general of the Moroccan Islamic-leaning Justice and Development party, echoed a similar call.

He called during a march in Rabat on Saturday, February 4, for "adopting an international charter on respecting all faiths and religions."

Al-Othmani said the march, joined by thousands of protestors, was meant to send a clear message to the international community that Prophet Muhammad is a red line.

"Muslims would not allow anybody to mock at the prophet."

The Moroccan Human Rights Center also called on the international community and the UN to enact a law banning insults to all divine religions.

Anti-Denmark demonstrations over the insulting cartoons continued Sunday unabated across the Muslim world.

Angry Lebanese protestors set the Danish consulate in the capital Beirut on fire in protest of the drawings, a day after infuriated Syrians torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus for the same purpose.

Signatures

Joining the campaign, Tunisian activists began collecting signatures to be sent to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and European governments, pressing for a law on respecting Islam and its prophet, reported the London-based Al-Quds Press news agency.

"…we ask you to take all measures to guarantee respect of Prophet Muhammad and hold accountable those who violate our religion," reads the message being signed.

The Muslim minority in Denmark has also entered the fray.

"Leaders of the Muslim minority are seeking a UN resolution banning insults against religious symbols and criminalizing such acts," Ahmed Akari, a spokesman for the European Committee for Defending Prophet Muhammad, told IOL.

He urged support for the drive.

"We call on all parties in the Muslim world to drum up support for such a resolution."

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, the Muslim world's two main political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions following the publication of provocative cartoons.

IOL Staff Ahmed Fathy contributed to the story from Cairo.

[north_malaysian]

But Muslims also have to respect other religions, as I know our media can be so anti-Jewish.

I remember years ago, in a sitcom 'Salam Pantai Timur' on Malaysian Government controlled TV station TV1. When a person told a lie, a woman called her ... "hey you lie like the Jews".