Oman at extraordinary meeting of Islamic Foreign Ministers
The Sultanate of Oman participated in an extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the States of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) about the repeated incidents of desecrating and burning of copies of the Holy Quran in Sweden and Denmark.
Oman's representation at the meeting was headed by Sheikh Khalifa Alharthy, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for Political Affairs.
Sheikh Khalifa told the meeting that Oman condemned the repeated incidents of burning copies of the Holy Quran. He said Oman considers these incidents a flagrant attack on the book of God Almighty and a violation of Islamic sanctities. He added that these repeated provocative acts represent an insult to the feelings and sacred beliefs of Muslims.
He renewed Oman's appeal to the international community to criminalise acts of incitement to hatred and abuse of religions and beliefs and spoke of the importance of promoting the culture and values of peaceful coexistence and tolerance between societies of different religions and cultures. He said promoting international understanding and cooperation was central to building a world of peace and mutual respect.
The Ministerial Council meeting condemned all attempts to offend the sanctity of the Holy Quran and other sacred values and symbols of Islam and other religions under the pretext of freedom of expression. The Council said this contradicts Articles 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and called on the international community to unanimously confront these attempted provocations.
The meeting called on all OIC missions to take the initiative in confronting acts of hatred against Islam, its symbols and sanctities through the relevant international conventions. The meeting also called for the development of new international legal texts on this matter.
The Foreign Ministers agreed to consider taking further measures in response to recurrence of such provocative acts spreading religious hatred and intolerance.
This is an unofficial English version of an Arabic report. To view the official Arabic text, click here.