Jordan Times
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Arab world condemns 'criminal'
kidnapping
DUBAI (AFP) — The Muslim world's top religious authorities joined the Arab media
on Tuesday in condemning the abduction in Iraq of two French journalists,
branding it a "crime" against Islam and warning that executing them would be
catastrophic for Iraq and Muslims.
The Sheikh of Azhar, the world's leading Sunni Muslim authority, "condemned" the
kidnapping and said the act "contradicts the rules of the tolerant Muslim
religion which calls for respect of human life, notably innocent [people]," the
Egyptian press agency MENA reported.
"Kidnapping civilians who enter Islamic countries through official channels ...
and respect the laws of the country where they work, is inadmissible," Sheikh
Mohammed Sayed Tantawi said.
Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who went missing Aug. 20, are being
held by a Sunni militant group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq.
The group gave France an initial 48-hour ultimatum to revoke a controversial law
banning Islamic headscarves from state schools but has extended its ultimatum by
24 hours to Tuesday night.
Dubai-based cleric Sheikh Ahmad Qubaissi told AFP: "It's undeniably a crime.
Nothing in Islam authorises threatening people to apply a precept of Sharia
(Islamic law).
"Wearing the veil is not a rite and not one of the pillars of Islam like prayer
or fasting in the month of Ramadan. It's inadmissible to threaten to kill a
human being to apply a rite," said Qubaissi, one of Iraq's most respected Sunni
clerics.
"If, unfortunately, the journalists are executed, it would be a catastrophe for
Iraq, Islam and for the resistance, which would vanish without leaving a trace,"
he warned.
In Damascus, Sunni leader Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro said: "The kidnappers should
respond to calls launched worldwide and release the hostages. Such a gesture is
to preserve Islam and Muslims."
Emirati newspapaer Al Khaleej said the kidnapping "serves the idea sponsored by
US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and through
them (Israeli Premier) Ariel Sharon, proving their allegations that every Arab
and every Muslim is a terrorist.
"The response to the kidnapping of Iraq by the American and British occupants
should not be the kidnapping of foreign journalists coming to transmit to the
world the true extent of the catastrophe" of the occupation of Iraq, it added.
It was a view echoed by the English-language Khaleej Times.
"Those who are resorting to such unreasonable acts in the name of Islam and
Muslims must realise that they are not serving the cause of Iraqis or Islam by
such dubious tactics," the daily said.
"These despicable acts, however noble the cause inspiring them, will eventually
deprive the Iraqi people of the international community's vital support."
Qatar's Raya said the kidnapping was "nothing to do with Islam," noting that
"for the first time since the beginning of the shadowy kidnappings, the captors
made demands not concerning Iraq.
"France deserves to be treated better, because it is a European state in most
solidarity with the Palestinian and Iraqi issues," the paper added.
The Kuwaiti Journalists' Association also called in a statement for the speedy
release of the two Frenchmen saying the kidnappings "will only harm the image of
the Arab and Islamic nation."
In Israel, the right-wing Jerusalem Post lauded France's "refusal to bend to
blackmail" but said the kidnappings showed that its opposition to the war in
Iraq had not given it immunity from Islamic militants.
"If nothing else, the kidnapping demonstrates that no policy, including a highly
'pro-Arab' one, will inoculate Western countries against terrorist attacks. Even
more important, it shows the necessity of Western solidarity in response," it
said in an editorial.