Date: February 15, 2006
Press Release
ISCC filed complaint with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission against the two Calgary publishers
(Calgary) The national president of Islamic Supreme Council of Canada and the founder of Muslim Against Terrorism, Syed B. Soharwardy today filed two formal complaints with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission against the publishers of Jewish Free Press and the Western Standards for sighting hate against Muslims.
After filing the complaints, he spoke with the media and said that this is a first step towards putting an end towards the hateful and non-Canadian attitude. We are also considering filing a civil lawsuit against the Jewish Free Press and the Western Standards. ISCC is consulting with lawyers and other Muslim Canadian organizations to have a united and a strong case against the publications of these hateful cartoons in Canada.
Syed Soharwardy appealed to the worldwide Muslims to stop violent protest. These protests have served and helped the anti-Islam forces. The violent protests in Muslim countries have brought embarrassment to Muslims. However, the western world must know that the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Muslim countries remained peaceful. Only few thousands, out of 1.6 billion Muslims, participated in the riots, which is still a regrettable and un-Islamic situation.
Syed Soharwardy said that the people in the west must know that the majority of Muslim countries are ruled by dictators and military rulers. These dictators, supported by the western governments, do exploit people in the name of religion whenever they want in order to safeguard their governments.
Syed Soharwardy thanked the Prime Minister, Steven Harper for supporting Canadian Muslims. He also thanked the mainstream Canadian Media for protecting the freedom of the press with responsibility and accountability. Syed Soharwardy thanked the various companies for deciding not to sell or purchase the hatemongering issue of the Western Standards.
Syed Soharwardy said, “For years, we have been building the bridges among various religious and ethnic communities in Canada but the two publishers tried to destroy those bridges. We will not let them succeed in their destruction.” Syed Soharwardy strongly disagreed with the repeated remarks of Ezra Levant that the new Canadians do not know the Canadian values. Islam is not a new religion in North America. Muslims have over a hundred years old heritage in North America. We, Muslims understand the Canadian values better, because the overwhelming majority of the Canadian media and the public including Canadian Jewish Congress support Muslim’s opinion, not Mr. Levant’s hateful remarks. I think Mr. Levant should learn first before becoming the champion of Canadian values.
Syed Soharwardy invited the two publishers to visit Al Madinah Calgary Islamic Centre in Calgary NE and have a dialogue with the Muslim community on Sunday, February 26, 2006 at 4:00 PM. We hope Mr. Ezra Levant and Mr. Richard Bronstein will accept our invitation.
Syed Soharwardy will be visiting Montreal and Toronto to participate in the peaceful rallies against the publication of hateful cartoons on Sunday. He will be addressing gatherings in Brampton and Montreal on Saturday. For details, please visit http://iscc.ca and click on the “Seminars on Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). For any questions, please call Syed B. Soharwardy at Toll Free Phone (866)-208-6898.
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