Zagreb, Croatia, Feb 9, 2022 / 08:00 am
A body representing more than 1,000 Muslim leaders worldwide expressed alarm on Tuesday at a Catholic politician’s inclusion in a report on Islamophobia in Europe.
The Global Imams Council said on Feb. 8 that it regarded a reference to Marijana Petir in the European Islamophobia Report 2020 as “inaccurate, irresponsible, and defamatory.”
“The Global Imams Council was alarmed to learn of the inclusion of the Honourable Marijana Petir, Member of the Croatian Parliament, in the European Islamophobia Report published on Dec. 29, 2021, and her classification as an ‘Islamophobe.’ We reject this charge and consider it false, inaccurate, irresponsible, and defamatory,” said a statement signed by the group’s president, Imam Mohammad Baqir al-Budairi.
“Marijana Petir MP is known to this Council as an advocate for peace, harmony, coexistence, and the rights of persecuted Christians worldwide, more specifically in the Middle East.”