Istanbul: Muslim nations on Friday called for “genuine” measures against Islamophobia after the attack on two New Zealand mosques that killed 50 people. Violence driven by Islamophobia requires “genuine, comprehensive and systematic measures to address this affliction,” ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said in a statement after a meeting in Istanbul.
The OIC said attacks against mosques and murders of Muslims showed the “brutal, inhumane and horrific outcomes” of hatred of Islam. It called for countries with Muslim communities, minorities or migrants to refrain from “statements and practices that associate Islam with terror, extremism and threats” to society.
During the March 15 attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant killed 50 men, women and children — the victims aged between three and 77 years old — and left dozens injured. The New Zealand Police said on Friday that it was probing death threats sent to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on social media. A Twitter post containing a photo of a gun and captioned “You are next” was sent to the Prime Minister earlier on Friday, The New Zealand Herald reported.
NZ calls for solidarity at Muslim meet
Istanbul: New Zealand’s deputy prime minister said the gunman accused of killing 50 people in two mosques in the South Pacific nation would spend the rest of his life in isolation in prison and called for solidarity to eradicate “hate-filled ideologies.” Winston Peters was speaking at an emergency session of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s executive committee in Istanbul where he denounced last Friday’s attacks as “an attack on all of us” in his country of “religious tolerance.”
Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant was arrested and charged with murder. Tarrant, 28, livestreamed the attack and released a manifesto describing his white supremacist views and how he planned the shootings. Peters said “no punishment can match the depravity of his crime but the families of the fallen will have justice.” He screened photographs of New Zealanders mourning the victims.
The comment appeared to be in response to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who during a speech earlier this week said: “If New Zealand fails to hold the attacker accountable, one way or another we will hold him to account.” Addressing the OIC meeting Friday, Erdogan thanked New Zealand for its “sensitivity and determined stance.” Meanwhile, their voices have thundered across this heartsick city, in parks and at flower memorials and schools. Day after day, the students of Christchurch have gathered, feet smashing the ground in unison as they chant the words of their nation’s indigenous people in an outpouring of grief and love and support.
