The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold on Monday an extraordinary virtual session for the Council of Foreign Ministers of Member States (CFM) at the request of Saudi Arabia and Iraq to address the repeated incidents of desecration and burning of copies of the Holy Quran in Sweden and Denmark.
The preparations for the 18th Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers began Sunday at the OIC’s General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah, where senior staff discussed and formulated recommendations to be presented at Monday’s session.
OIC Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Yousef Bin Mohammed Al-Dubaie emphasized the deep appreciation of the OIC towards the Kingdom and Iraq for their initiative in convening this session.
He said that the organization has followed with deep concern on the recurrent incidents of insulting Islamic sanctities, and every time, it rejected and denounced them and alerted to the seriousness of these provocative acts.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other Gulf and Arab countries expressed their categorical rejection of all attempts to desecrate the holy Quran. They stressed the need for immediate measures to halt such extremist acts that provoke Muslims across the globe.
Al-Dubaie noted that since last January, the Executive Committee held two meetings to study these incidents and that the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, at its 49th session in Nouakchott, also adopted other resolutions to this effect.
He then indicated that OIC Secretary-General Hissein Taha had extensive contacts with senior officials of member and non-member states and international organizations to raise awareness of the seriousness of this issue.
Al-Dubaie also said that the OIC missions and its member states in both New York and Geneva held contacts and initiatives to inform the bodies in the concerned organizations of the ongoing violations against Islamic symbols and sanctities.
