Quran burning incident ‘politically motivated’: Christian MP

TEHRAN, May 1 (MNA) - MP Yunaten Bet Kelia, who represents the Assyrian and Chaldean communities in the Iranian parliament, said on Monday that the desecration of the Quran by a U.S. pastor was politically motivated. “The people (behind the move), who are puppets of the (global) arrogance (forces of imperialism), should be aware that they cannot sow discord among (followers of different) religions through such actions,” Bet Kelia told . Terry Jones, the pastor of the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center church, set fire to copies of the Quran and a depiction of Prophet Muhammad (S) on April 29. In March 2011, the U.S. pastor’s assistant burned a copy of the Quran and broadcast the ceremony on the Internet, with the images inciting violence in northern Afghanistan, in which at least 12 people were killed, according to AFP. In September 2010, Jones intended to set the Quran on fire to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States but cancelled his plan due to international pressure and criticism.