OIC Muslim bloc demands ‘severe counter-measures’ against Quran burnings

ISTANBUL

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) demanded Tuesday “severe counter-measures” against recent burnings of copies of the Quran in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark.

The Muslim bloc expressed the body’s “common stance against the recent desecration of The Holy Qur’an" in a statement following an extraordinary meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

They discussed "possible actions that could be taken by the OIC against the perpetrators of the despicable Islamophobic attacks,” it said.

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha “reiterated his dismay on the provocative acts done by far-right activists, emphasizing that such actions are criminal acts perpetrated with the main intention to target Muslims, to insult their sacred religion, values, and symbols,” it said.

Taha said “relevant governments must take severe counter-measures, especially because such provocation have been committed repeatedly by far-right extremists in their countries.”

The Secretary-General added that the
“intentional act of desecrating the Holy Qur’an and insulting Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) must not be seen as just an ordinary incident of Islamophobia.”

Noting that such acts are “a direct insult to the entire 1.6 billion Muslim population,” Taha demanded that “all stakeholders to take firm action, so that the similar provocation will not reoccur in the future.”

Last week, Danish-Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan and Edwin Wagensveld, a far-right Dutch politician and leader of the Islamophobic group Pegida, separately burned Islam's holy book, in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark.