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14 September 2012 - 20:18

The US and the international Zionism are trying to spread Islamophobia in the world through desecrating religious sanctities, a senior Iranian lawmaker stated, and condemned a sacrilegious movie against Islam's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

"The US and the international Zionism resort to insulting the religious sanctities to promote and spread hostilities against religions and Islamophobia in the world," member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Hassan Asafari said on Thursday.

Asafari added that the recent anti-Islam movie is one such instance demonstrating the "depth of US animosity" towards divine religions, Islam in particular.

Last night, Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei blamed the US and the Zionists for the sacrilege of Muslims' Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in a movie made by an American-Israeli man, and called on Washington to punish those behind the blasphemous act.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Iranian supreme leader said the US and Zionists' hands can be seen behind the move, and said if Washington statesmen claim to be not involved in this sacrilege of Islam and Islamic values, they should punish those who have designed and orchestrated the move.

"The filthy hand of the enemies of Islam once again revealed its deep-rooted malice by insulting the Grand Prophet [Mohammad] (PBUH) and with an insane and deplorable measure showed the fury of the evil Zionists at the daily-increasing radiance of Islam and Holy Qur'an in the present world.

"Behind this evil move lie the antagonistic policies of the Zionists and the US and other heads of the global arrogance, who in their vain delusions want to knock down the Islamic sanctities from their lofty position in the eyes of the young generations in the world of Islam and to extinguish their religious sentiments. Had they not backed the previous links in this evil chain, namely Salman Rushdie, the Danish cartoonist, and the US pastors who burned the Holy Qur'an and had they not made orders for [production of] tens of anti-Islam movies to companies affiliated to the Zionist capitalists, things would not have lead to this great and unforgivable sin today," said the statement.

"The number one suspects in this crime are Zionism and the US. If the American politicians are honest that they had no role, then they must punish those who committed this heinous crime and their financial backers, who have wrenched the hearts of Muslim nations, in proportion to this great crime," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

"Muslim brothers and sisters must know that this desperate move by the enemies in the wake of the Islamic Awakening is a sign of the grandeur and importance of this uprising and heralds its increasing growth," it added.

Also on Thursday, senior Iranian Shiite and Sunni clerics condemned the sacrilegious movie, and warned the US of Muslims' harsher protests against the desecration of their values.

"We strongly condemn the production of this film and we announce that Muslims will not keep mum about these devilish acts and the US must wait for stronger actions," Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani said in a statement on Thursday.

Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi also condemned the sacrilegious act, and described it as a reaction to the Muslims' growing Islamic awakening moves and uprisings.

He said the movie shows that enemies are afraid of "the spread of this divine religion and have, thus, taken such a silly action which will backfire".

Innocence of Muslims, previously called Desert Warriors and Innocence of Bin Laden, is a 2012 anti-Muslim film about Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

The film was made in the United States by a man initially reported by US media to be an American-Israeli who relied on funding from 100 Jews.

But subsequent reporting found that figure to be fictitious, likely invented by a Coptic Christian living in California and identified as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. The film was being promoted by a Florida pastor, Terry Jones, known for previous Koran-burning stunts that angered Muslims in various countries.
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News ID 182712