LOS ANGELES, 20 May 2005 — A Muslim woman who said she ordered a Qur’an through Amazon.com only to find profanity and religious slurs written inside asked Wednesday for an apology and a full investigation by the online retailer.
Azza Basarudin, 30, said she received the Qur’an by mail on May 5 after ordering it through a used books division of Amazon.com that allows customers to order directly from third-party sellers approved by the company.
When she opened the Qur’an, Basarudin said she found profanity and the phrase “Death to all Muslims” written in thick black marker on the otherwise-blank first page.
“I dropped the book because I didn’t know what to do,” she said at a news conference at the Islamic Center of Southern California.
Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said his organization wants a public apology and investigation from Amazon.com, as well as the firing of those responsible for mailing the desecrated book.
Patty Smith, a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based book retailer, said the Qur’an was purchased directly from Bellwether Books, a small book resale company in McKeesport, Pa., through the “Marketplace” section of Amazon’s Website.
“This was not our inventory, it was nowhere in our order or fulfillment process,” she said. “It was a used book purchased through a third party.”
Richard Roberts, owner of Bellwether, said he doubts his employees defaced the book. The company buys used books at bargain prices from individuals, other bookstores and libraries and then resells them through Amazon.com and other outlets.
He said before this incident, his six employees gave each book a cursory check before shipping and didn’t look inside the pages.
Roberts said Bellwether has since instituted a more stringent quality control check. Bellwether has also suspended indefinitely from selling Qur’ans through Amazon.com, Smith said.
Bellwether apologized to Basarudin by e-mail and offered to replace the book. Amazon.com also apologized, reimbursed her for the Qur’an’s cost and mailed Basarudin a gift certificate, Smith said.
Red Cross Raised Guantanamo Qur’an Disrespect Concerns
The International Red Cross told the Pentagon as early as 2002 detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison had reported US officials mishandled the Qur’an, Red Cross and Pentagon officials said yesterday.
The acknowledgment of the documentation of alleged abuse of the Qur’an came as Washington sought to defuse anger in the Muslim world after a US news magazine reported the Qur’an was flushed down the toilet at the Guantanamo prison. The magazine later retracted the article.
The International Committee for the Red Cross told the Pentagon “multiple” times in 2002 and early 2003 that prisoners at Guantanamo said US officials showed “disrespect” for the Muslim holy book, said Simon Schorno, an ICRC spokesman.
“The US government took corrective measures and those allegations have not resurfaced,” Schorno said.
The ICRC spokesman declined to specify if the allegations included the flushing of the Qur’an down the toilet or if US officials used the disrespect as part of interrogations.
Former Guantanamo prisoners and lawyers for detainees have for months accused US personnel at Guantanamo of putting the Qur’an into toilets. Pentagon officials said this week they did not consider such statements as credible allegations meriting investigation.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the ICRC has come to the Pentagon “on rare occasion” with allegations made by detainees at Guantanamo. Whitman said ICRC representatives acknowledge they did not observe the actions that prompted the complaints.
“Out of respect to the ICRC and the relationship that we have, I’m not going to talk about the specific representations that they’ve made,” Whitman said. “They are consistent with the type of things that we have talked about, what we have found in log entries (at Guantanamo), to include things like a Qur’an inadvertently falling to the floor.”
Rules on Handling Of Qur’an
In January 2003, the US military issued guidelines to personnel at the base outlining how to handle and inspect detainees’ Qur’ans.
The memorandum included the order: “Ensure that the Qur’an is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet or dirty/wet areas.”
“The guidelines didn’t come out of nowhere. You don’t get such orders unless there’s some problem, concern or controversy,” a US official, who asked not to be named, said.
