OIC Renews call for Western Governments to stop anti-Islam Campaign

26 March 2008

Riyadh-The Organization of the Islamic Conference has renewed a call on the Dutch government to stop the screening of blasphemous anti-Quran film produced by a right-wing MP in the Netherlands.

"We must not allow freedom of speech to be used as a cover to insult religion," said Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the OIC, speaking on the sidelines of a high-profile three-day dialogue between Japan and the Islamic world, which concluded yesterday.

"I must say that there is a positive development between the OIC and the Dutch government and we look forward to new steps by the Netherlands to stop the screening of this film," he added.

Referring to attacks on Islam, a cross-section of participants supported the OIC secretary-general's views, saying that Denmark and the Netherlands must stop provoking Muslims using the European Convention on Human Rights as a basis.

Ihsanoglu called on the two European countries to respect the sentiments of over 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide. "We have to deal first with the campaign of insults and the deliberate misuse of freedom of the press," said the OIC chief.

Meanwhile, Saleh Al-Wohaibi, secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, deplored the fact that there was no change in the position of the Danish government.

"The Danish government is still holding onto its position and not condemning the insults of its own people," he said.