Call for laws to bar defamation of religion

Doha: As unrest and violence continue over the publication of Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) cartoons, Qatar's envoy to the United Nations called on states to incriminate defamation of all religions, the Qatar News Agency has reported.

The call came as renowned Islamic scholar Yousuf Al Qaradawi reiterated here on Wednesday evening that the boycott of Danish products will continue until the UN issues a resolution prohibiting the denigration of religious beliefs and symbols.

Qatar's permanent delegate to the UN, Nasser Bin Abdul Aziz Al Nasser, was delivering his speech before the UN Security Council on the joint information committees for combating terrorism (No 1373), Al Qaida and Taliban (No 1267) and weapons of mass destruction (No 1540), the Qatar News Agency said (QNA).

"Al Nasser called on the mass media to foster dialogue and encourage tolerance and co-existence and create an environment which doesn't give way to inciting terrorism. He called on the committee for combating terrorism to deal with this issue with firm determination and urged states to incriminate defamation of religions," the agency said.

"Al Nasser also stressed the importance of boosting dialogue and understanding among civilisations in order to prevent random targeting of religions and divergent cultures."

Curbing proliferation

In the framework of the violence and unrest stirred by the Danish cartoons, Islamic scholar Al Qaradawi called on the Danish Government to apologise to all Muslims "for the sin [of publishing the cartoons] and make sure it would not be repeated."

The imam was addressing the final session of a Gulf Islamic Charities meeting here on Wednesday.

With regard to the ongoing terror attacks and tensions in the region, Al Nasser also called on the international community to exert efforts to curb proliferation of nuclear weapons and combat terrorism.

"Al Nasser called on the UN Security Council to extend required technical assistance to states requiring it in order to make greater progress in curbing the threat of acquisition of weapons of mass destruction," QNA said.

"He also demanded the committees continue their work on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and urged the three committees to cooperate and coordinate their work in a much deeper way to achieve maximum solidarity in fighting terrorism."