Saudi Arabia slams publication of offensive Prophet cartoons in France
Kingdom rejects linking Islam to terrorism; calls for respect for others' beliefs
Cairo: Saudi Arabia condemned cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) on Tuesday, and voiced rejection of linking Islam to terrorism. Calls have mounted over recent days in the Muslim world for boycotting the French goods after French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying that his country would not give up the caricatures and defended the right to show them.
Macron’s remarks came after a French history teacher was beheaded outside a school in a Paris suburb for showing the cartoons.
“The kingdom denounces the drawings defaming the Prophet of guidance and peace, Mohammed Bin Abdullah. peace be upon him, or any other prophet, and condemn any terrorist act whoever is perpetrator,” an official source at the Saudi Foreign Ministry said, according to the state news agency SPA.
Saudi Arabia, which is birthplace of Islam, also called for making freedom of thought a “lighthouse emitting respect, peace and repudiation of all practices generating hatred, violence and extremism”. Representation and defamation of prophets are strictly forbidden in Islam.