News
Muslim nations mull taking legal measures for slights against Islam
Sabtu, 15 Maret 2008 | 00:21 WIB
Dakar, NU Online
The Muslim world has created a battle plan to defend its religion from political cartoonists and bigots.
Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, leaders of the world's Muslim nations meeting at a summit in Senegal are considering legal action against those who slight their religion or its sacred symbols. It was a key issue during a two-day summit that ended Friday in the Senegalese capital.<>
The plan represents an attempt to demand redress from nations like Denmark, which allowed the publication of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, an incident that infuriated the Muslim world. Though the type of legal action it could take is not fully spelled out, the threat pits the Muslim world against the principles of freedom of speech enshrined in the constitutions of numerous western governments.
"I don't think freedom of expression should mean freedom from blasphemy," said Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, the chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, on Friday. "There can be no freedom without limits."
At the summit, delegates were given a voluminous report recording anti-Islamic speech and action around the world. It cites the publication of the Danish cartoons, as well as the op-ed articles of a Somali-born Muslim woman who said women do not have rights under Islam. The report concludes that Islam is under attack and that a defense must be mounted.
"Muslims are being targeted by a campaign of defamation, denigration, stereotyping, intolerance and discrimination," charged Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the group.
To protect the faith, Muslim nations have already created an 'observatory' that meets regularly to monitor Islamophobia. It examines lectures and workshops taking place around the world and prints a monthly record of offensive content.
The report presented Friday urges the creation of a "legal instrument" to crack down on defamation of Islam, but it is unclear what kind of legal action could be taken. Some delegates point to laws in Europe criminalizing the denial of the Holocaust and other anti-Semitic rhetoric. They also point to articles within various U.N. charters that condemn discrimination based on religion and argue that these should be made stronger.
"In our relation with the western world, we are going through a difficult time," Ihsanoglu told the summit's general assembly. "Islamophobia cannot be dealt with only through cultural activities but (through) a robust political engagement," he said.
In reaction, the International Humanist and Ethical Union in Geneva issued a statement accusing the Islamic states of attempting to limit freedom of expression and of attempting to misuse the U.N.
New York-based Human Rights Watch sent out a statement outlining the events surrounding the publication of the Danish cartoons. The rights group concludes however that: "That Muslims find the depictions of the Prophet Muhammad objectionable does not give them the right under international human rights law to insist that others abide by their views. Muslims, like all others, are free to state their religious objections and to press for more respectful treatment, but they are not entitled to censor the expression of others in the name of their own religious freedom."
Hemayet Uddin, the lead author of the report and the director general of the OIC culture and social affairs committee, said some form of legal action is needed because "this Islamophobia that we see in the world has gone far beyond a phobia. It is now at the level of hatred, of xenophobia and we need to act." The delegates, he said, were unanimous in the need for this. A new charter drafted by the OIC commits the Muslim body "to protect and defend the true image of Islam" and "to combat the defamation of Islam."
Meanwhile, some delegates said that the legal approach is over the top. The Assiciated Press reported.
"My general view would be that the confrontational approach is one my country would avoid," said Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Iftekhar Chowdhruy, whose country is 90 percent Muslim. "We believe in spreading understanding," he said.
While the Muslim world worries about the image of Islam abroad, the delegates of the summit also looked inward. The presidents of Chad and Sudan signed a peace agreement on the penultimate day of the summit, agreeing to stop incursions of rebels across each other's borders. It is one of several accords signed earlier between the feuding Muslim leaders, but the most recent pledge commits both parties to a monitoring instrument - a monthly meeting at which infractions of the accord can be addressed. Wade called the accord "a miracle," given that it came on the heels of news Thursday that rebels from Sudan had invaded Chadian territory.
"We will continue to contribute to the solution of problems" in the Muslim world, Wade said in his closing address.
Palestine also loomed large, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calling Israel's actions tantamount to "ethnic cleansing." The delegates committed themselves to addressing the spiraling violence there and continuing to make Palestine the core of their agenda.
Founded in 1969 as a reaction to the burning of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the organization of Islamic leaders has always placed Palestine at the heart of its affairs. But even as it supported Palestine, the IOC referred to another Muslim-on-Muslim conflict - the tension between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. An early declaration passed by the body held up the Palestinian government as the rightful authority in the Palestinian territories, said members of the Palestinian delegation.
"I think it makes sense that you wash your dirty laundry at home. Inside the family. We Muslims are all one family - and so I think it's absolutely normal that we should look at these internal conflicts and see if we can resolve them among ourselves," said Waby Daouda, the Benin ambassador to Saudi Arabia. (dar)
The Muslim world has created a battle plan to defend its religion from political cartoonists and bigots.
Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, leaders of the world's Muslim nations meeting at a summit in Senegal are considering legal action against those who slight their religion or its sacred symbols. It was a key issue during a two-day summit that ended Friday in the Senegalese capital.<>
The plan represents an attempt to demand redress from nations like Denmark, which allowed the publication of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, an incident that infuriated the Muslim world. Though the type of legal action it could take is not fully spelled out, the threat pits the Muslim world against the principles of freedom of speech enshrined in the constitutions of numerous western governments.
"I don't think freedom of expression should mean freedom from blasphemy," said Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, the chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, on Friday. "There can be no freedom without limits."
At the summit, delegates were given a voluminous report recording anti-Islamic speech and action around the world. It cites the publication of the Danish cartoons, as well as the op-ed articles of a Somali-born Muslim woman who said women do not have rights under Islam. The report concludes that Islam is under attack and that a defense must be mounted.
"Muslims are being targeted by a campaign of defamation, denigration, stereotyping, intolerance and discrimination," charged Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the group.
To protect the faith, Muslim nations have already created an 'observatory' that meets regularly to monitor Islamophobia. It examines lectures and workshops taking place around the world and prints a monthly record of offensive content.
The report presented Friday urges the creation of a "legal instrument" to crack down on defamation of Islam, but it is unclear what kind of legal action could be taken. Some delegates point to laws in Europe criminalizing the denial of the Holocaust and other anti-Semitic rhetoric. They also point to articles within various U.N. charters that condemn discrimination based on religion and argue that these should be made stronger.
"In our relation with the western world, we are going through a difficult time," Ihsanoglu told the summit's general assembly. "Islamophobia cannot be dealt with only through cultural activities but (through) a robust political engagement," he said.
In reaction, the International Humanist and Ethical Union in Geneva issued a statement accusing the Islamic states of attempting to limit freedom of expression and of attempting to misuse the U.N.
New York-based Human Rights Watch sent out a statement outlining the events surrounding the publication of the Danish cartoons. The rights group concludes however that: "That Muslims find the depictions of the Prophet Muhammad objectionable does not give them the right under international human rights law to insist that others abide by their views. Muslims, like all others, are free to state their religious objections and to press for more respectful treatment, but they are not entitled to censor the expression of others in the name of their own religious freedom."
Hemayet Uddin, the lead author of the report and the director general of the OIC culture and social affairs committee, said some form of legal action is needed because "this Islamophobia that we see in the world has gone far beyond a phobia. It is now at the level of hatred, of xenophobia and we need to act." The delegates, he said, were unanimous in the need for this. A new charter drafted by the OIC commits the Muslim body "to protect and defend the true image of Islam" and "to combat the defamation of Islam."
Meanwhile, some delegates said that the legal approach is over the top. The Assiciated Press reported.
"My general view would be that the confrontational approach is one my country would avoid," said Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Iftekhar Chowdhruy, whose country is 90 percent Muslim. "We believe in spreading understanding," he said.
While the Muslim world worries about the image of Islam abroad, the delegates of the summit also looked inward. The presidents of Chad and Sudan signed a peace agreement on the penultimate day of the summit, agreeing to stop incursions of rebels across each other's borders. It is one of several accords signed earlier between the feuding Muslim leaders, but the most recent pledge commits both parties to a monitoring instrument - a monthly meeting at which infractions of the accord can be addressed. Wade called the accord "a miracle," given that it came on the heels of news Thursday that rebels from Sudan had invaded Chadian territory.
"We will continue to contribute to the solution of problems" in the Muslim world, Wade said in his closing address.
Palestine also loomed large, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calling Israel's actions tantamount to "ethnic cleansing." The delegates committed themselves to addressing the spiraling violence there and continuing to make Palestine the core of their agenda.
Founded in 1969 as a reaction to the burning of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the organization of Islamic leaders has always placed Palestine at the heart of its affairs. But even as it supported Palestine, the IOC referred to another Muslim-on-Muslim conflict - the tension between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. An early declaration passed by the body held up the Palestinian government as the rightful authority in the Palestinian territories, said members of the Palestinian delegation.
"I think it makes sense that you wash your dirty laundry at home. Inside the family. We Muslims are all one family - and so I think it's absolutely normal that we should look at these internal conflicts and see if we can resolve them among ourselves," said Waby Daouda, the Benin ambassador to Saudi Arabia. (dar)
