Saudi Arabia condemns ‘offensive’ French cartoons amid growing boycott calls
28 October, 2020
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday condemned French cartoons that they branded offensive to the Prophet Mohammed and rejected any link between Islam and terrorism amid calls to boycott French goods over the problem.
An official at the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry condemned all acts of terrorism within an apparent mention of the recent beheading of a teacher in Paris this month by an extremist angered by the usage of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a class on freedom of expression.
"Freedom of expression and culture ought to be a beacon of respect, tolerance and peace that rejects practices and acts which generate hatred, violence and extremism and so are unlike coexistence," said the statement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Elders - an Abu Dhabi-based band of religious scholars and thinkers - on Monday criticised what it called “systematic” abuse of the Prophet Mohammed under the pretext of freedom of speech as it sought to file a lawsuit against French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
"Enough time for mere words has passed and enough time for action on the floor is at this time,” the council said according to state-run Wam news agency. "Confronting these defamation campaigns ought to be through legal methods out of our belief in the value of resisting hate speech.”
The council called on all Muslims to stand against hate speech by pushing for international legislation that criminalises actions against religions also to find methods to make the West “confront this anti-Islamic campaign and work for establishing an agreeable environment for calm co-existence and human fraternity”.
The council also called for Muslims to move into the West to follow the values of calm co-existence with all elements of society and integrate to their communities.
“It urged them to positively integrate to their respective wider communities and not be drawn into xenophobic provocations which try to distort Islam’s image while promoting hostility towards its believers,” Wam said.
The images of the Prophet run by Charlie Hebdo have sparked anger in the Muslim world with Turkey's leader calling for a boycott of French goods and Pakistan's parliament passing an answer urging the federal government to recall its envoy from Paris.
The Saudi statement did not refer right to the calls for a boycott.
In the kingdom, calls for a boycott of French supermarket chain Carrefour were trending on social media, though two main stores of the chain in Riyadh on Monday seemed as busy as normal. A company representative in France said it had yet to feel any impact.
In neighbouring Kuwait, some supermarkets have pulled French products under a directive of a cooperative union.
Yemen's Foreign Ministry said the cartoons could fuel hatred and motivate violence and terrorism.
"The continuing insult of the Holy Prophet Mohammed is offensive to every Muslim man and woman," the ministry said.
"This cannot be justified or encouraged, at all, under the pretext of freedom of expression."
Mr Macron has defended the cartoons as protected by freedom of expression. "We won't quit cartoons, drawings, regardless if others back off," Mr Macron said during a national tribute to the slain teacher Samuel Paty.
Paris has mobilised its diplomats in your community to ask countries where boycotts are being organised to provide assurances that French citizens will be safe.
“These demands boycott are baseless and really should stop immediately, and also all attacks against our country, which are being pushed by a radical minority.”
Saudi Arabia's Council of Senior Scholars, the kingdom's highest religious body, said that insulting prophets only served extremists who want to spread hatred among societies.
“The duty of wise people all over the world … is to condemn such insults that have nothing in connection with freedom of thought and expression and so are only pure prejudice and a free of charge service for extremists,” the council said on Sunday.
Al Qaeda-linked extremists have seized on the growing campaign to incite violence against the country’s political leadership.
A note posted on Telegram by a prominent online supporter of the group claimed the boycott ought to be the minimum required as a result of the “immoral crusade” launched by France.
France in addition has accused Mr Erdogan of stoking tensions amid a deepening rift between Ankara and Pairs over several regional issues including the war in Libya and maritime exploration of coal and oil in the Mediterranean Sea.
Prominent French politician Jack Lang, who heads the Institute of the Arab World in Paris and a former French culture and education minister, urged a finish to the boycotts to build trust.
In January 2015, Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 workers in an attack organised by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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