UN's Ban condemns Dutch film as anti-Islamic

(29 March 08)

UNITED NATIONS - UNITED Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon condemned as 'offensively anti-Islamic' a Dutch lawmaker's film that accuses the Quran of inciting violence.
Mr Ban acknowledged efforts by the government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of the film, which was launched by Islam critic Geert Wilders over the Internet, and appealed for calm to those 'understandably offended by it'.
'There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence,' Mr Ban said in a statement on Friday. 'The right of free expression is not at stake here.'
The short film, titled Fitna, an Arabic term sometimes translated as 'strife', intersperses images of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States and Islamist bombings with quotations from the Quran.
The film urges Muslims to tear out hate-filled' verses from the Quran and starts and finishes with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb under his turban, accompanied by the sound of ticking.
Several Muslim countries, including Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia, have also condemned the film.

'Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility,' Ban said.
'We must also recognise that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western societies, as some would have us believe, but between small minorities of extremists, on different sides, with a vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict,' Mr Ban said. -- REUTERS

OIC move to stop anti-Islam campaign

UNITED NATIONS, March 4: The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) on Monday expressed concern over the negative political and media campaign in certain western nations targeting Muslims and Islam.In a statement, it urged the UN secretary-general to call upon the governments of member states which allowed publication of blasphemous cartoons and other anti-Islam material “to take all possible legal and administrative measures to prevent the repetition or continuation of these deliberate offensive acts, which impinge greatly on the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion of the followers of Islam”.It asked the UN chief to publicly express his unequivocal opposition to all ‘acts of Islamophobia’.“The OIC group believes that lack of action to prevent the reprinting of the blasphemous caricatures and indifference in airing the inflammatory documentary against the Holy Quran, will be perceived as manifestation of insincerity towards the principles and objectives of various efforts within the UN system aiming at promoting understanding and respect among cultures and civilisations,” the statement added.