RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Saturday expressed its “strong condemnation and dissatisfaction” with a failure to take necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of incidents of violations against Islamic sanctities, the Kingdom’s foreign ministry announced.
Recent public desecrations of the Qur’an by ultranationalist groups in Sweden has sparked widespread anger among the international community, while on Friday a man set fire to a book purported to be the Qur’an in front of the Iraqi embassy in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said an “extremist group in Denmark burned a copy of the Holy Qur’an, and raised slogans of hatred and racism against Islam and Muslims, in front of the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in the capital, Copenhagen.”
The incidents have prompted Middle Eastern nations to summon their Swedish and Danish diplomats in protest.
The ministry “expressed the Kingdom’s condemnation in the strongest terms of these acts that incite hatred and violence between religions,” and warned against “repeating these provocative acts” that affect millions of Muslims around the world and “are a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms.”
Jassem Albudaiwi, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, also expressed his strong condemnation and denunciation of the burning and desecrating of a copy of the Qur’an in Copenhagen.
In a statement issued on Saturday, he said that “the continuation of these heinous acts and irresponsible behavior reflects extremism and hatred of religions,” and called on Denmark to “take immediate action to hold those extremists accountable in accordance with international laws, treaties and norms that protect and preserve religions.”
Kuwait also condemned the recent incident and said “this provocative act deepens hatred, fuels extremism, and offends Muslims worldwide.”
The foreign ministry urged the Danish government to reveal the motives behind “this disgraceful act and to take all necessary legal actions to stop such irresponsible actions and behavior.”
It also called on the Danish government to work to prevent the “recurrence of such acts and to bring perpetrators to accountability,” arguing that “freedom of expression should not be used to insult Islam and all religions.”
The ministry called on the international community to step up efforts to counter these incidents, enact laws that criminalize offending religions and promote adherence to relevant international conventions and resolutions, including the recent UN Human Rights Council’s resolution on countering religious hatred that was adopted this month.
Tunisia issued a similar statement and called on all countries to respect sanctities so that “heinous crimes” that contradict the values of coexistence and tolerance are not repeated to fuel extremism and terrorism.
