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Venezuela's Maduro censures European leaders for silence on Qur'an desecration

Monday, 07 August 2023 3:17 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 07 August 2023 4:37 PM ]

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro

President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela has censured European leaders for their silence toward acts of sacrilege against the Holy Qur'an in Sweden and Denmark.

"I condemn these racist acts of hatred against Muslim nations," the president told Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television news network on Monday.

"The silence of European leaders over the burning of copies of the Quran is surprising, which amounts to their complicity in the crime."

Maduro said it was impossible to turn a blind eye to such provocations that humiliate Islam and its followers.

"What would European Christians say if a Bible was burned in front of them?"

The Venezuelan president said it was "quite natural" that the global Islamic community displayed an "angry reaction" to the desecration of the holy book.

Over the past weeks, the Holy Qur'an has been subject to acts of desecration by extremist elements several times in Sweden and Denmark, whose governments have sanctioned and justified such insults as "freedom of expression."

The sacrilegious acts have ignited the ire of the entire Muslim community across the globe. Several countries have summoned or expelled Swedish and Danish ambassadors.

The Nordic countries have deplored the desecration but claimed they cannot prevent it under constitutional laws protecting freedom of speech.

Sweden has already seen its diplomatic relations with several Muslim nations strained over previous protests involving the desecration.

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen recently said the Danish government is looking for "legal means" to stop desecration of holy books.

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