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EOHR demands that Sheikh al-Qardawy retract fatwa condoning terrorism
12/9/2004
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) strongly condemns the killing of two Egyptian citizens in Iraq and the desecration of their corpses. The tongue of one of the victims was apparently cut off while he was saying the shahada (a religious invocation.)
The Iraqi Unity and Jihad Group kidnapped Mohamed Fawzy Mitwally after accusing him of being of being a spy on the payroll of the American forces. The group announced that he had been executed in August. His killing, an extrajudicial execution, is a gross violation of judicial authority.
The Iraqi authorities discovered the body of the second victim, Nasser Salam in Takrit, North Iraq. Iraqi police forces confirmed signs of torture on Salam's corpse which was bound at the hands and feet and bore a gunshot injury to the head. He had been strangled with a headscarf.
Mitwally and Salam join the list of Egyptians killed in Iraq: in August planes carrying the coffins of some 28 Egyptian workers arrived at Cairo Airport from Iraq. Forensic reports stated that the corpses bore numerous injuries including gunshot wounds, brain haemorrhaging, chest injuries and electric shock marks which confirm that the workers - who were working for Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti companies - were murdered.
While supporting the Iraqi people's right to self-determination and freedom from occupation, EOHR strongly condemns murder and kidnapping which are not a legitimate form of resistance against the occupation.. The international community must condemn these crimes and take the measures necessary to bring their perpetrators to account. It demands that the Egyptian authorities conduct a thorough investigation in order to gather information about the perpetrators of these acts and ensure that they are tried and punished.
In this context EOHR is extremely concerned by newspaper reports about a fatwa issued by Dr Youssef al Qardawy in which he attacked Arab workers who had accepted contractual work in Iraq, saying that in doing so they were helping the occupation forces. Stating that no-one should go to Iraq until it had been liberated from the occupation, he demanded that resistance forces target American and British nationals and anyone working with the occupation, making no distinction between civilians and military personnel but rather advocating the targeting of anyone collaborating with the occupation.
This fatwa confers legitimacy on the abduction and murder of civilians and Arab workers in Iraq. EOHR asks that al Qardawy retract these statements which condone terrorist acts, and demands that he unequivocally condemn civilian kidnapping and murder.
EOHR urges al-Azhar, a Sunni Islamic institution to undertake its role in fighting terrorist acts committed in the name of Sunni Islam. Occasional press statements issued by al Azhar condemning terrorism are not a vigorous defence of Islam and reinforce the general opinion that there exists a link between it and terrorism. Al-Azhar long delayed launching a thorough discussion refuting terrorists' interpretation of Islam and such ideas can now be heard in mosque sermons. The time has come for al-Azhar to expose individuals who espouse such ideas and undertake its basic role of representing genuine Islam.
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