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17:40 GMT
JEDDAH, Feb 14 (KUNA) -- Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad Ameen Madani condemned on Saturday the senseless murder of three young innocent Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US.
"This brutal crime shocked Muslims around the world and raised concerns over rising anti-Muslim sentiments and Islamophobic acts in the United States of America," he said in a press release.
Madani commended the statement of President Barack Obama yesterday that "No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship."
The OIC chief urged the US Government to take steps towards ensuring protection against stereotyping, discrimination and profiling, which are inconsistent with core values of American society and for which it is admired.
Madani welcomed the FBI enquiry into the case as a positive step, so that the tragical cutting short of the lives of the three students does not go unpunished.
Madani reiterated that hate and intolerance should have no place in a multicultural world; hence he underlined the importance of interfaith and intercultural dialogue at the community level.
He praised the overwhelming unity of the American Muslim community and the gestures of solidarity of the American people with the families of the victims rejecting the murder which bear the symptoms of a hate crime.
He called for cooperation at the international level to counter violent extremism, religious intolerance and incitement to hatred and hate crimes.
The Secretary General expressed his deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.
On Tuesday, February 10, Deah Shaddy Barakat - 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha - 21, and his sister-in-law Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha - 19, were shot dead by Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who defined himself on his Facebook account as an "atheist" and expressed anti-religious views. (end)
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