Yemen’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has on Saturday condemned in the strongest terms the republication of offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
In a statement that Saba News published, the ministry confirmed that “this disgraceful act is a blatant challenge to the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world.”
It indicated that the “contempt for religions and religious symbols spread hatred and extremism and undermine all noble human values and all efforts made to promote the values of tolerance and coexistence among the peoples of the world.”
The statement pointed out that “freedom of expression and freedom of the press are fundamental freedoms, but are not absolute and do not in any way mean chaos or moral fall, but are limited to respecting others in their beliefs and not to offend or insult others.”
The ministry’s statement stressed that this offense will not harm the rank and greatness of the Prophet, but will degrade the status of the offending parties who have directly offended him.
The statement called on Islamic countries to stand firm in the face of repeated abuses of Islam and Islamic sanctities, and called on the international community to redouble efforts to counter extremism, sedition and hatred, and to speed up the adoption of a binding international law that prohibits and criminalises insulting religions, religious symbols and religious sanctities.
