Iran backed calls from other Muslim and world leaders for an end to violent protests over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons, urging calm, amid demonstrations that have left at least 45 people dead in the Muslim world over the past month.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, on a visit to EU headquarters on Monday, said that he and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged better dialogue between the Muslim world and the West over respect and tolerance.
"We accepted to cooperate with each other to calm down the situation, not to offend the values, religious values in particular from one side, and freedom of expression from the other side -- some kind of balance," Mottaki told reporters. "We should try to cool down the situation. We do not support any violence."
PHOTO: EPA
Solana said his visit last week to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and other Muslim nations to mend fences "was making headway."
Pope Benedict XVI also tried to soothe the tensions on Monday, saying religious symbols must be respected but violence can never be justified.
Mottaki added that freedom of expression must be exercised with sensitivity and with respect for others' values and beliefs.
Mottaki called on EU governments and media outlets "to take initiatives" preventing such cartoons from being published again to avoid further protest.
"We are all working, and we hope the press also will try to play their role and their responsibility," Mottaki said.
"We are facing ... angry Muslims all around the world. We have to try our best to avoid any violence," he said. "This is what we are trying to do in Iran ... So many of our policemen were attacked by angry people on the streets."
In Copenhagen, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller warned that al-Qaeda terrorists were exploiting the outrage over the drawings and condemned a Pakistani cleric who last Friday offered a US$1 million bounty for killing one of the cartoonists.
He called the reward "insane" and tantamount to terrorism.
"When money is put on the cartoonists' heads, then terror is also being used," Moeller said. "It's incitement to murder. Murder is also banned by the Koran."
Moeller noted that protests against the cartoons have been tapering off in many Arab countries, while escalating in Pakistan and Turkey.
"It's the extremist forces that wish to keep it going," he told reporters in Copenhagen. "There is no doubt that all extremists will exploit the situation. Al-Qaeda, too, will use it and fan the fire."
Mottaki said European governments were being hypocritical in their respect for freedom of expression, pointing to the example of Holocaust deniers, who he said were being put in jail for expressing their opinions.
"When we are talking about the freedom of expression ... it is very strange to see some European authors, some European members of parties are kicked out from their post or their position because they are making or creating some doubt about some part of some historical happening," Mottaki said.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS