'U.S. should seriously deal with directors of anti-Islam film'

TEHRAN, Sept. 15 (MNA) -- In a reaction to the release of a movie in which it insults the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said Tehran expects the U.S. government to deal seriously with those involved in producing this film. The blasphemous two-hour film which was produced, directed and written by a 56-year-old Israeli Jew filmmaker based in California, mocks the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and portrays Muslims in a bad light. The movie cost $5 million to make and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors. The film has sparked fury across the Muslim world. Mohammad Khazaee told reporters on Friday that if Western countries had dealt with previous cases of blasphemy seriously “today we would not have witnessed such insulting acts.” Khazaee added that recent incident is an instance of Islamophobia repeated to gain “political supremacy”. Such acts have a long history which started with Salman Rushdie’s book in which he insulted the prophet. From the view point of the United Nations and international conventions insulting Abrahamic religions, prophets, religious figures and holy books are not allowed, he explained. The ambassador said such acts cause strife between nations, people and cultures and would not be benefi humanity. He added Non-Aligned Movement states have repeatedly condemned offenses to religions and holy books and have dealt with such issues seriously. NAM states have emphasized that “under the pretext of freedom of expression” people cannot be allowed to insult prophets and the scripts, therefore from NAM perspective blasphemy to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is unacceptable, said Khazaee.