JEDDAH, 6 June 2005 — The 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) yesterday urged the United States to bring the officers responsible for the desecration of the Holy Qur’an to immediate justice.
“The US must live up to its responsibilities and not be lenient with the perpetrators of the desecration and should bring those responsible for the despicable crime to justice immediately,” said OIC spokesman Ambassador Atta El-Manan Bakhit.
The spokesman for the world’s largest Muslim organization also called for urgent measures to calm the tension caused by the incident in the Islamic world and ensure that such abhorrent acts are not repeated in the future.
The OIC statement came after the US military admitted on Friday that those interrogating Muslim prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba had defiled the holy book by splashing urine on it and also stepping on it.
The US Southern Command, which supervises the Guantanamo facility, confirmed at least five cases of intentional or unintentional mishandling of the holy book from among 19 alleged incidents since the detention facility opened in January 2002.
The OIC condemned the despicable acts committed by US personnel and said it showed their blatant hatred for the faith of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims and created doubts about the nature of instructions given to American soldiers about religious values and tolerance.
“These unequivocally rejected practices can only lead to the incitement of religious feelings and a deepening of the gulf of differences and intolerance between the Muslim world and the United States,” Bakhit said.
In Washington, a leading Senate Democrat said yesterday the United States needs to move toward shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
“This has become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world. And it is unnecessary to be in that position,” said Sen. Joseph Biden.
He proposed that an independent commission take a look at Guantanamo and make recommendations.
