Al-Kharafi strongly condemns anti-islam movie

Kuwait's National Assembly (NA) Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi on Saturday strongly condemned the anti-Islam movie which provoked wide-spread angry protests across the Muslim world. "This is a criminal act meant to offend Islam and its sacred icons," Al-Kharafi told KUNA, adding that the makers of the notorious film wanted to instigate strife among followers of different faiths. "What is the aim of this criminal act other than jeopardizing the brotherly relations between followers of the different faiths," he wondered. Entitled "Innocence of Muslims," the low-budget movie which features actors with strong American accents, portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent. The movie also included insults to the Prophet of Islam Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him). The NA Speaker went on to say that democracy and freedom of expression do not mean offending religions and their sacred symbols. He noted that the Kuwait National Assembly launched an initiative aiming to pass a UN resolution criminalizing defaming of religions. "This initiative was approved by the Arab inter-Parliamentary Union, Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union and International Inter-Parliamentary Union," he said. The Speaker of the House urged the UN to pass "decisive and binding" resolutions forbidding attacks against faiths, religious icons and to emphasize dialogue and respect of religions.