Iran Urges Dutch Gov’t to Respect Sanctities of World’s Muslims

By Staff, Agencies 

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly denounced the repeated acts of Quran desecration in the Netherlands, urging Amsterdam to respect the sensibilities of the world’s Muslims.

“The Dutch government is expected to understand its responsibilities towards preventing insult against the values and religious sanctities of the world's more than two-billion-strong Muslim population,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Wednesday.

He advised the Netherlands to come in the way of “repetition of such reprehensible acts that take place in the name of 'freedom of speech.”

The remarks came days after Edwin Wagensveld, the ringleader of the Dutch chapter of the anti-Islam group PEGIDA, tore up a copy of the Muslim holy book in front of the Turkish, Pakistani, and Indonesian Embassies in The Hague and insulted Islam and Muslims.

He then thanked the Dutch police for providing him with protection during his perpetration of the heinous gesture.

On Monday, the Organization of the Islamic Council [OIC] similarly condemned the act of desecration, urging the Dutch authorities to stop the provocative, Islamophobic acts.

Several cities across the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark have witnessed similar instances of desecration of the Muslim holy book since the beginning of the year.