News - Yemen: Yemen's Minister of Foreign Affairs sent a written message to the delegations and foreign ministers of the countries participating in the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Hisham Sharaf, sent messages to the countries of the world, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the President and members of the Security Council, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President and members of the Human Rights Council and the High Representative of the European Union for Affairs political and security related.

Hisham Sharaf sent the messages in implementation of the demands of the popular will, the the instructions of the revolutionary and political leaderships, and the outputs of the meetings of the Supreme Ministerial Committee of the National Salvation Government of the boycott, that European extremists in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands are committing hate crimes against Muslims around the world and provoking their feelings.

The letters expressed the condemnation of Yemen for committing crimes of burning copies of the Holy Quran in full view of the police forces in countries that praise freedom, equality, respect for human rights and freedom of religion and belief.

These practices were considered actions that proved beyond any doubt that those Western countries suffer from double standards in dealing with human rights issues.

The Foreign Minister's messages warned against hate crimes, which will certainly have negative repercussions on relations between Islamic peoples and Western countries, and the effects of these crimes on the Western societies.

In his letters of condemnation, Minister Sharaf called on the international community to take measures and steps, most notably, to demand that the Swedish, Danish and Dutch authorities investigate these heinous crimes and hold accountable those responsible for extremist groups.

He pointed out that these actions are in no way related to freedom of opinion, expression and belief. He called for bringing the perpetrators to trial and not to escape punishment, stressing the importance of the United Nations General Assembly drafting an international convention criminalizing offense to religious beliefs and symbols. 

"The Security Council has to issue a resolution criminalizing Prejudice to religions and religious symbols," he added.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs considered such practices an explicit threat to international peace and security, calling on the Human Rights Council to issue a binding resolution criminalizing all forms of hatred and extremism and demanding accountability for the perpetrators.

Earlier on the month, Yemen's Council of Ministers, headed by Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Habtoor, took a number of decisions related to the economic boycott of American, Israeli, Swedish, Dutch and Danish goods, as a response to their targeting Islamic sanctities.

The Council approved the boycott of American, Israeli, Swedish, Dutch and Danish goods, and any country that follows the same approach and disrespect Islamic sanctities in any way. The most important of which is the countries’ tendency to fight Islam and the clear and explicit hostility to its symbols and sanctities, as well as to commit these criminal practices under the protection of the official authorities in those countries.