Egypt Following Indonesia And Many Other Countries Condemn France

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Instagram / @ alsisiofficial)

JAKARTA - The President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, expressing freedom of opinion by insulting the Prophet Muhammad through cartoons like what happened in France must be stopped. Abdel argues it has offended more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide.

According to Reuters, Wednesday, October 28, Egypt seemed to disagree with France's efforts to perpetuate the spread of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Instead of freedom of expression, Muslims generally have seen it as a form of blasphemy against Islam.

"We also have rights. We have the right so that our feelings are not hurt and that our values are not hurt, "he said in a speech to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

"And if some people have the freedom to express what's on their mind, I imagine that this stops when it comes to offending more than 1.5 billion people," he added in remarks broadcast on television.

Not only Abdel, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, Egypt, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb also called on the international community to criminalize anti-Islamic actions. He also said that Al-Azhar strongly rejects the use of anti-Muslim sentiment, let alone to garner votes in elections.

Previously, several leaders of the world's Muslim countries also criticized France's actions. Some of them include the name of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has called for a boycott of French goods. Most recently, Indonesia as one of the largest Muslim-majority countries in the world also criticized.

Through the spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Teuku Faizasyah, the French Ambassador in Jakarta, Olivier Chambard was summoned last Tuesday. The summons were made to directly condemn French representatives for President Emmanuel Macron's comments which insulted Islam.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the French Ambassador in Jakarta today. During the meeting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the statement made by the President of France," said Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Teuku Faizasyah, quoted by CNN Indonesia.