The desecration of Al-Qur’an is a crime and will be penalized in Russia, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
During a visit to Derbent in the Muslim-majority Dagestan Autonomous Republic, Putin visited the historical mosque and met with Muslim representatives. Putin said despite other countries failing to respect the sanctity of Al-Qur’an, it would always be respected in Russia.
“In our country, this is a crime both according to the Constitution and the penal code,” he said as he received a copy of the holy book during a visit to the historic mosque of Derbent, where he met Muslim representatives from Dagestan.
“Al-Qur’an is sacred for Muslims and should be sacred for others,” he said as he thanked the representatives for the gift. “We will always abide by these rules.”
Putin’s comments came as a man tore up and burned a copy of Al-Qur’an outside Stockholm’s central mosque on Wednesday, drawing widespread condemnation from Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations.
Police later charged the man with agitation against an ethnic or national group.
A series of demonstrations in Sweden against Islam has offended the Muslim world, including Turkey, whose foreign minister said it was "unacceptable" to allow anti-Islam protests in the name of freedom of expression.
In January, when a similar incident occurred in Sweden, the Russian Foreign Ministry had blasted the burning of the Holy Quran "as another provocative act of Islamophobia."
"These blasphemous actions predictably provoked a harsh reaction in the Islamic world, including the Russian Muslim community," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a news conference.
“These hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification, and they clearly incite hatred, exclusion and racism, and directly contradict international efforts seeking to spread the values of tolerance, moderation and rejection of extremism, and undermine the necessary mutual respect for relations between peoples and states,” a Saudi foregin ministry statement said
Swedish police later charged the man with agitation against an ethnic or national group.
This is not the first time Russia has expressed its condemnation of Al-Quran burnings. In a previous incident in Sweden, the Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the act as an Islamophobic provocation that triggered a strong reaction in the Islamic world and among the Russian Muslim community.
Putin’s declaration reaffirms Russia’s stance on protecting religious sensitivities and treating the desecration of Al-Quran as a punishable offense under both the country’s Constitution and penal code.
No comments:
Post a Comment