UPN, Alm.del - 2005-06

PRESSRELEASEOSCE PA President Hastings speaks out against IslamophobiaWASHINGTON, 3 February 2006 – The President of the OSCE ParliamentaryAssembly, US Congressman Alcee L. Hastings, spoke out strongly yesterday againstthe misrepresentation of Islam in European press in recent days.“I am deeply troubled by recent ‘political’ cartoons in the mainstream Europeanpress which mock the Prophet Muhammad and suggest that Islam is a religion ofwar. I am an outspoken defender of free speech. These newspapers certainly havethe right to print such cartoons, however doing so is reckless and irresponsible. Thecartoons are not only offensive and untrue, they debase the marketplace of ideas inthe name of free speech. This is abhorrent and should be denounced as such. Aresponsible press should report the news, not incite hate or inflame hostility. In thisinstance, the publishers of these newspapers have failed miserably on both counts.As the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, an organization which hasnever failed to excoriate xenophobia in all its ugly forms, I reject totally theinferences made in these cartoons and beseech the press to stop running them.”

For further information, please contact Congressman Hastings’ Office in Washington: Tel: +1 202225 1313, Fax: +1 202 225 1171The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, created by the CSCE Summit in Paris in 1990, is theparliamentary dimension of the 55-nation Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.The primary task of the 317 member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, animportant aspect of the overall effort to meet the challenges of democracy throughout the OSCEarea.