Jordan calls on the international community to enact laws that criminalize insulting religious symbols and sanctities

2023-07-11 18:00:14

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July 11, 2023

Watan Al-Youm: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs, Ayman Safadi, stressed the need for the international community to act immediately to enact laws that criminalize and prevent insulting religious symbols and sanctities.
Al-Safadi stressed, in a recorded speech at an emergency session held by the Human Rights Council in Geneva on acts of religious hatred that are evident in the multiple attempts to insult the Noble Qur’an, the need to confront acts of hatred in all its forms.
In the session, which was held at the request of the Arab countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, he said, “This is a shared responsibility that we must affirm our commitment to today, through an explicit condemnation of the crime of burning a copy of the Holy Qur’an, and immediate action to enact laws that criminalize and prevent it.”
Al-Safadi stressed that confronting the culture of hatred, discrimination and rejection of the other is a necessity to perpetuate the culture of peace and common human values. He said that respecting the other and its religious symbols and promoting a culture of peace and dialogue are well-established Islamic values, and that “burning a copy of the Noble Qur’an is a violation of these values, a dangerous embodiment of a culture of hatred and racism, and a manifestation of Islamophobia that Jordan absolutely condemns.”
Safadi added, “The burning of the Holy Qur’an is a hate crime that represents a crude provocation to the feelings of about two billion Muslims, and cannot be justified in the context of freedom of expression.”
Al-Safadi stressed that Jordan stresses “the need to immediately stop such provocative and extremist actions, and criminalize them as incitement to violence and hatred,” and the need to respect religious texts and symbols and promote a culture of peace and acceptance of the other.
Al-Safadi stressed the need to adhere to the contents of United Nations resolutions, which call for global efforts to promote tolerance, peace and dialogue among civilizations, and the resolutions of the Human Rights Council concerned with addressing the challenges of intolerance and incitement to hatred and violence on religious grounds.
The session was attended by member states and observers of the Human Rights Council, and civil society organizations