Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the European Office of the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Zamir Akram has said that freedom of expression does not provide a license to insult the religious beliefs of other people.
He was speaking in his capacity as the Coordinator of the OIC countries on Human Rights Issues during a meeting with the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, at the UN’s Geneva office.
The envoy made these remarks in response to the recent western media attacks on Islam and Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
Ambassador Akram stressed that the right of free speech under the UN conventions was subject to limitations, specifically to prevent any incitement to violence – which had clearly happened in the case of the provocative publications of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
He said that certain western countries pursued clear double standards since their own laws criminalized any anti-Semitism or anti-Jewish statements or denial of the holocaust because this constituted “hate speech.”
However, expression of Islamophobia, insults to Islam and Muslims, are being defended by the same countries as expression of “free speech.”
Such double standards and hypocrisy, Ambassador Akram said, were unacceptable. He added that it was in the interest of these countries, which have large Muslim minorities, to end such discrimination against Muslims.