KUALA LUMPUR: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) said that the anti-Islam film insulting and defaming Islam and Prophet Mohamed was not an isolated act. “It comes as part of the ongoing anti-Muslim campaign, aiming not only to hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world, but also to distort the true image of Islam, causing widespread manifestations of derogatory stereotyping, negative profiling, intolerance and incitement to religious hatred and violence,” the commission said in a statement. “Considering that religion is one of the fundamental elements in one's conception of life and identity, denigration of religions for many of their followers becomes a direct assault on their own selves,” it said. The IPHRC pointed out that if this campaign is to continue unchecked, it would lend more ground to normalizing the growing intolerance towards Muslims, and to legitimatizing the imposition of discriminatory restrictive legislative and administrative measures on their right to observe their religion in many parts of the world. Strongly condemning the act of releasing the “antagonizing” film, the commission stressed that it represented an irresponsible misuse of the right to freedom of expression and that such provocations and discrimination cannot be justified, be they against Islam and Muslims or any other religion and its followers.
