US officials aware of old Quran desecration reports
Regional-USA, Politics, 5/26/2005

Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the highest religious authority in Sunni Islam, received yesterday a letter from the United States government over the reported desecration of the Holy Quran in the US military prison of Guantanamo.

The US government pledged in its response to take immediate action in anti-Islam practices. On the desecration report, the letter said Newsweek that the US magazine whose report created seismic waves across the Muslim world, backtracked on its report.

The US image has been badly effected by the incident, US officials said. The US has suffered for a long time from a very negative image in the Arab and Muslim world because for a host of policies in the region, such as its support for Israel, a country that has occupied and oppressed the Palestinians.

Surveys sponsored by the US government in recent years showed the US badly needs to improve how it is perceived in the Muslim world, an image that was further tarnished by the US invasion of Iraq that was done against the will of the international community and in defiance of the United Nations.

The US Akron Beacon Journal reported today that "prisoners at the US-run detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told FBI interviewers as early as April 2002 that guards abused them and repeatedly desecrated the Quran, declassified FBI records showed Wednesday." The report added "The FBI files show a consistency to the allegations" and that Justice and Defense department officials were aware as early as 2002 of such allegations.

Previous Stories:
  Retraction of Quran desecration story, Guantanamo controversy continues   (5/17/2005)
  Desecration of the holy Quran by US soldiers is severely condemned   (5/16/2005)
  The US- anti terrorism campaign after Iraq   (11/27/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search