Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb has called on Islamic countries and international organizations to support Muslims in Myanmar and pressure the government of Myanmar to end anti-Muslim violence and stop religious persecution.
Egypt has expressed its frustration with renewed violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, calling on authorities there to adopt decisive measures to put an end to the massacres.
In remarks on Wednesday, Tayyeb said that the violence against Muslims in Myanmar is discrimination and denies them their national identity. He said forcing them out to leave Myanmar threatens all Muslim minorities in Southeast Asia.
“The majority there is violating all international conventions,” he said. “We have to protect our brothers from crimes against humanity.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Amr Roshdy told DPA on Monday that the ministry summoned Myanmar’s ambassador the day before to inform him of Egypt’s anger over the violence. The ministry delivered a message to Burmese authorities calling for perpetrators behind the violence to be referred to justice and to cease discrimination against all Muslims.
Egyptians demonstrated outside the Burmese Embassy in Cairo in July to protest the killing of several Muslims from the Rohingya community by Buddhists, reportedly in retribution for the rape of a Buddhist woman by a group of Rohingyas.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
