Saudi Arabia has expressed strong objection to the trampling and tearing of a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands. Condemning the insult to the Quran by a far-right Dutch activist, Saudi Arabia has said that such repeated incidents cannot be justified.
Condemning the incident of tearing the Quran, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday, ‘The Foreign Ministry strongly condemns these reprehensible and repeated acts. Such actions cannot be justified under any circumstances. Such acts clearly promote hatred, hatred and racism. Such actions go against international efforts to promote tolerance, moderation and reject extremism.
The Saudi ministry said such incidents ‘undermine the essential foundation of mutual respect that is essential for relations between people and countries.’
Quran compared to Mein Kampf
In August, Edwin Wagensveld, leader of the far-right Dutch group Pegida, damaged a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy. The government of the Netherlands had condemned this incident and said that the government does not have the legal power to stop such demonstrations.
Wagensveld tore a copy of the Quran outside parliament during a similar protest in January and compared Islam’s holy book to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Wagensveld is also facing trial for the comments he made while tearing the Quran.
Immediate action should be taken to stop incidents
On Monday, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jassim Mohammed al-Budawi condemned the tearing of the Quran and called for immediate and effective international action to counter these aggressive and provocative actions against Muslims.
According to the report of Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the official press agency of Saudi Arabia, Al-Budawi said that the countries where such demonstrations are taking place should intervene and stop such repeated incidents under the pretext of freedom of expression. These incidents should be stopped.
In recent times, incidents of burning of Quran are coming to light again and again in European countries. In the month of June, on the occasion of Bakrid, a young man named Momika Salwan burnt a copy of the Quran in front of the Stockholm Central Mosque in Sweden. Almost all Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia had condemned this incident and said that Swedish authorities should take steps to prevent such incidents.
After this, in the month of July, two people together set a copy of the Quran on fire outside the Parliament of Sweden.