JEDDAH, 15 May 2005 — International Islamic organizations based in Saudi Arabia yesterday called on the United States to investigate reports that its officers in Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Holy Qur’an and bring the culprits to justice.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said it had written to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressing “astonishment and dismay” at the incident.
Newsweek magazine said in its May 9 edition that investigators probing abuses at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay found that interrogators “had placed Qur’an copies on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a copy down the toilet”.
The reports drew massive protests all over the Islamic world.
The OIC said the report had enraged hundreds of millions of Muslims and would “provide fanatics and extremists with excuses to ... justify their acts of violence and terrorism”.
The organization said it had asked the US to “bring the culprits to justice, to take measures which would appease the enraged sentiments of the Muslim world, and prevent the recurrence of such abhorrent acts in the future”.
The World Muslim League (MWL), which is based in the holy city of Makkah, also called for a speedy investigation and said perpetrators should be held accountable.
“The MWL expresses the resentment of Muslims and Islamic organizations in the world over the desecration of the Holy Qur’an at Guantanamo prison,” Dr. Abdullah Al-Turki, secretary-general of the organization said.
