Lebanese Catholics show solidarity to Muslims, outraged by Muhammad movie
Beirut (AsiaNews) - Lebanon's Catholic Churches have responded to Muslim outrage caused by the 'Innocence of Muslims,' a highly Islamophobic movie that defames the Prophet Muhammad. The Catholic Information Centre of the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon is organising a meeting by the moral council of sages, which includes representatives from the country's main Christian and Muslim communities. The first step will be to condemn the movie, which represents an attack against Islam. Participants will also discuss the possibility of raising the issue with the United Nations.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, who is the rotating chair of the Arab League, called on his colleagues to meet in order to issue a stern condemnation of the movie. However, Lebanese Muslim groups are sceptical about such an initiative.
As a personal initiative, lawmaker and former minister Boutros Harb, said he would pursue all legal avenues against the makers of the movie, and that he would be in favour of a control committee. He also did not exclude the possibility of filing a lawsuit in a US court.
Economy and Trade Minister Nicolas Nahas and Maronite General Council President Wadih el-Khazen added their voice to the general outrage that followed the case.
The latter appealed to Arab and international organisations to deal with the issue and contemplate the possibility of a criminal probe against outrages against the Islamic faith.
The Ulema Union, which met yesterday at the Press Circle, said the movie trailer that is online appears to have been done "to sow disunity between Christians and Muslims, especially in Egypt."
Now it appears that the moviemakers are members of the US Coptic community.
Islamic legal scholars said that they would not fall in this trap, asking instead that Washington punish those responsible for this affront against the Prophet Muhammad.
They rejected as a false pretext claims that the US government cannot seize the movie or ban it.
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