Additional
Reporting by Ayman Al-Masry, IOL Correspondent
CAIRO,
May 14, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The
International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS) has demanded the
Bush administration severely punish American soldiers responsible for
desecrating the Noble Qur’an at the notorious prison in Guantanamo
Bay.
“The
enemies of Islam do not refrain from fighting the Muslim faith,
insulting its holy scripture and shrines, and provoking Muslim outrage
worldwide,” the Dublin-based Muslim body said in a strongly-worded
statement obtained by IslamOnline.net.
Branding
the American act as a “deep insult” to Islam’s holy book, it
stressed that the US administration must immediately apologize for the
“heinous crime.”
The
body further said that Washington must not drag its feet on a promised
inquiry into the incident.
The
IAMS, which brings together 200 Muslim scholars from around the world,
further called on the Muslim nation to rise to the daunting challenges
facing their religion.
NEWSWEEK
magazine said in its May 9 edition that investigators probing abuses
at the US military prison in Cuba found that interrogators “had
placed Korans (sic) on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a
holy book down the toilet.”
White
House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration takes the
issue “very seriously” and reaffirmed that the Defense Department
has launched an investigation.
US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday, May 12, described as
“abhorrent” any desecration of the Qur’an, promising to place a
severe punishment on the offenders.
“Disrespect
for the holy Qur’an is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it
ever be, tolerated by the United States,” she told a Senate
committee.
The
US is holding more than 500 prisoners incommunicado at Guantanamo.
UN
human rights officials have repeatedly raised concerns about detainees
held there and in different US prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Continuing
Demos
 |
|
A
Palestinian girl holds a copy of the Qur’an during an anti-US
rally in Gaza. (Reuters)
|
Meanwhile,
protests spread across the Muslim world on Friday with thousands
taking to the streets mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and
the Palestinian territories.
In
Afghanistan, the worst anti-US demonstrations since the fall of
Taliban in 2001 entered a fourth day and spread to new cities.
Afghan
troops shot dead three people Friday as protesters tried to storm the
governor's house in southern Ghazni province, bringing the number of
people killed since Tuesday, May 10, to 16, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
Thousands
have shouted anti-US slogans and pledged to avenge the desecration of
the Qur’an in key cities like Kabul, Faizabad and Gardez.
The
protesters torched the offices of three foreign aid agencies in
Faizabad, Afghan officials told AFP.
The
army also opened fire on some 300 protesters in Gardez, killing one
and injuring at least three, doctors and officials said.
About
6,000 Afghan refugees also staged a demonstration in a camp near the
northwestern city of Peshawar, before dispersing peacefully.
In
neighboring Pakistan, hundreds of people burned US flags and effigies
of President George W. Bush, witnesses said.
Demonstrators
in several cities, including the capital Islamabad, Karachi and
Lahore, chanted “Death to America” while speakers at rallies
called by the main Islamic alliance in Pakistan, Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal, demanded Washington to punish the “criminals.”
Jakarta,
capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation Indonesia, saw a
rally at a mosque by hundreds of people protesting against the
sacrilege.
Students
in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Sulawesi island also took to the
streets and searched hotels and the airport for any Americans, AFP
said.
At
the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, around 2,000
Palestinian demonstrators held aloft copies of the Qur’an as they
marched through the streets.
American
and Israeli flags were burnt during the demonstration following the
Friday prayers, while 400 mounted a similar protest in the West Bank
city of Al-Khalil.
Muslims
in Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Iraq also expressed anger, both with
Washington and their own leaders for their impotence in the face of
the desecration.
