KABUL (BNO NEWS) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday strongly condemned the burning of the Quran by a US evangelical preacher in a Florida church and called on the United States to bring those responsible for the incident to justice.

“President Karzai on behalf of the Muslim people of Afghanistan and on his own behalf denounce the disrespectful and abhorrent act,” a statement from his office said.

Karzai called the incident an effort to incite tension between religions.

American pastor Wayne Sapp burned a copy of the Quran on Sunday. Terry Jones, a US pastor that cancelled a plan to burn copies of the holy book last year to mark the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, was also present at the Florida church.

Sapp, a member of the Dove World Outreach Center, claimed that the holy book had been found “guilty” of crimes in the course of an eight-month trial and was therefore “executed,” Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast also condemned the act, which he described as “blasphemous and repugnant”.



”Such radical acts are the result of Islamophobic moves in the US and those who have committed such crimes are contributing to US hegemonic plots, which seek to create a rift between divine religions,” Mehman-Parast said, as cited by the news agency.



”The US government, under the international norms and laws, is obliged to prevent the spread of religious hatred,” he added.








The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan condemned the incident on Tuesday and said that it was an isolated act done by a small group of people. Ambassador Cameron P. Munter added that the United States absolutely rejects religious intolerance in any form.

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