QNA
Doha
The Shura Council has denounced and condemned, in the strongest terms, the Swedish authorities' allowing one of the far-right members to burn a copy of the Holy Qu'ran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, asserting that allowing such a blatant act provokes emotions of two billions of Muslims, and ignites hate speech and violence.
This came during the ordinary weekly session of the Shura Council that was held on Monday at Tamim bin Hamad Hall at the Headquarters of the council, under the presidency of Speaker of the Shura Council HE Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim.
The council confirmed that such an outrageous step contravenes the laws and charters of respect for the religious sanctities of nations, including human rights principles that underscore freedom of religion, and protect sanctities and rituals.
The council expressed its deepest astonishment over the silence of some western and European countries towards the persistent offence against the Islamic religion, under the pretext of freedom of expression, pointing out that such a double-dealing with the concept of freedom of expression, has allowed the recurrence of infringements upon Islam, causing the growth of Islamophobia phenomenon. It also deepened the gap between east and west.
The council warned against the menace of the growing far-right racial speech, anti-Muslim hate, involving religious sanctities in such acts, and offending them to achieve political gains, confirming that such acts would lead to more hatred, discrimination and violence, in addition to feeding terrorism and extremism.
The Shura Council called on the people of Qatar, the Union of Councils of Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), all parliaments of Islamic world and the Parliamentary, Islamic and Arab federations to take essential and serious steps to further adopt a unified Islamic stance to ensure non-infringement of sanctities and never compromise them, and prevent the recurrence of such infringements.
During the session, the council discussed the request of holding general discussion that was submitted by a number of members on the infractions made by some individuals and companies, and their impact on the terrestrial environment. In this regard, the members of the council pointed to the great importance Qatar places on environment, as enshrined in the constitution of the country to conserve the environment, specially the terrestrial environment, which is demonstrated in Qatar's national vision 2030, as an environmental development pillar.
They asserted that tampering with some wilderness areas by some individuals and companies significantly causes erosion of areas, in addition to degradation of their capacities to continue and sustain, specially that Qatari environment is characterized by dry desert environment with little rain and vegetation.
They noted the danger of encroachment on environment, meadows and wildlife through dumping construction waste, overgrazing and other detrimental practices that damage the environment, albeit the existence of laws and legislations that overtly criminalize such acts.
The members of the council stressed the importance of enforcing the laws and intensifying surveillance and accountability to reduce the phenomenon of encroachment on environment, and never hesitate to impose fines and penalties on violators, emphasizing the importance of sensing the spirit of responsibility towards environment and its conservation.
After discussing the request and securing everyone's confirmation on the criticality of conserving the environment, and taking all necessary actions to prevent any infraction or encroachment, the council decided to submit the request to the Public Services and Utilities Committee for further perusal, and file a report to the council accordingly.
Additionally, the council discussed a draft law amending some provisions of law no 18 of 2017, on public hygiene that it was submitted to the council by the esteemed government, and decided to refer it to the Public Services and Utilities Committee for further perusal, and resubmit its report thereon to the council.