Iran condemns 'abhorrent' desecration of Qur'an by US guards
May 15, 2005, 13:48
Iran added voice Sunday to an international outrage over the desecration of the Holy Qur'an by US guards at the Guantanamo prison, warning of 'consequences' which this egregious action could entail in.
'This is an abhorrent action which we are faced with, but we cannot do anything more that expressing our regret and protest,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters here.
'American authorities should have voiced their outrage more expressly and much sooner and punished the individual behind this act,' he said, adding 'the world must know that when someone insults a religion, it will not go without consequences'.
Asefi also regretted widespread animosity toward Muslims in the United States.
'Unfortunately, we are now witnessing that Islamophobia has become institutionalized across wide sectors of the United States,' he said.
According to a recent report by an Islamic advocacy group in Washington, reported hate crimes against Muslims in the United States increased more than 50 percent last year.
The report, released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, outlined more than 1,500 cases of harassment and anti-Muslim violence around the country in 2004, including 141 hate crimes, compared with 1,019 incidents and 93 hate crimes in in 2003."
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