Muslims Demand High-Level Investigation of Qur’an Desecration

Newark, CA: The American Muslim Alliance (AMA), a national civic education organization with 101 chapters nationwide, joined other American Muslim organizations in calling for high-level Pentagon investigation of reported desecration of Holy Qur’an at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.
The allegations have been made by recently released Pakistani and Afghan detainees and published in the latest edition of the American Newsweek magazine. The magazine reports that such tactics were used as a means for psychological torture to rattle suspects. It is also reported at least at one occasion the US personnel flushed a copy of Qur’an "down the toilet".
The AMA Statement reads:
"The American Muslim community is deeply dismayed by a news item in the recent issue of the Newsweek alleging desecration of the holy Qur’an at the Guantanamo Bay Prison.
“These reported acts of desecration clearly fit a pattern of institutionalized Islamophobia. As reported by the Associated Press, in January of this year, a middle school teacher in Dearborn, Michigan had told his students that Bedouin Arabs used the Qur’an as toilet paper.” Earlier, Attorney General John Ashcroft and General William G. Boykin had made similarly hurtful statements.
During his term in office, the former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s had told syndicated columnist Cal Thomas: "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you."
“Lieutenant-General William G Boykin, described by BBC as an ‘Evangelical Christian’ had told a church group: ‘My God was bigger than his [reference to a Somalian Muslim]. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.’
“Today, we are not only dealing with the prejudice of the ignorant but also the prejudice of the learned and the powerful. These prejudiced acts reverse the gains made since the civil rights movement and re-institutionalize religious and racial bigotry.
“These actions give the unambiguous impression that at least some elements in the US government are engaged in a war against Islam and not against terror. The entire Muslim world has expressed its shock and outrage at these reports. Clearly, these nefarious actions have dealt a major blow to the coveted efforts of winning ‘hearts and minds’.
“We ask Secretary Rumsfeld to initiate a high-level investigation of this incident to help restore America to its ideals and principles of equality and freedom, including the freedom of religion.”

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