Rabat, August 18, 2012
Rabat, August 18, 2012
The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) today in a communiqué condemned the ruling by a court in Berlin, capital of Germany, to authorize far-right political party Pro-Deutschland (for Germany) to brandish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) at demonstrations under “Islam does not belong to Germany – stop Islamization” in front of three big mosques in Neukölln and Wedding in Berlin.
ISESCO denounced the German court rejecting an emergency appeal filed by three mosques that asked to ban the right-wing populist group’s use of the images of the Prophet. But the court said prohibiting the display of such images would violate “artistic freedom,” and that “simply showing the Muhammad cartoons does not qualify as a call to hatred or violence against Muslims.”
ISESCO also called on the German government to take urgent action to prevent such provocative actions that have nothing to do with freedom of expression, warning that these will certainly cause strife and chaos and hurt the feelings of Muslims in Germany and in the Muslim world. ISESCO went on to express profound disappointment at the court taking such a decision at a time when the Borough of Hamburg signed a deal with the city’s Muslim community groups, regulating relations between Muslims and Hamburg authorities and outlining rights and obligations for Muslim groups.
At the end of its communiqué, ISESCO said the German court’s ruling is totally against freedom of expression – which does not harm people’s dignity and cultural diversity, warning that it will only sap the global effort to combat Islamophobia and promote interfaith dialogue, coexistence and respect for human rights. In addition, ISESCO urged the German court to abide by the UN General Assembly’s resolution 65/224, of 11 April 2011, combating violence, xenophobia or related intolerance and desecration of religions and religious symbols.
Source: ISESCO
