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Cairo:
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Egypt Sunday the place he sought to ease tensions with the Arab world, after the furore surrounding the republication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Le Drian met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Egypt’s highest Muslim authority, talking of his nation’s “deep respect” for Islam.
Le Drian’s extremely anticipated assembly with Tayeb, head of Al-Azhar — thought-about the foremost non secular establishment for Sunni Muslims — tackled French satirical journal Charlie Hebdo’s choice in September to reprint the cartoons.
Last month Tayeb denounced remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about “Islamist separatism” as “racist” and spreading “hate speech”.
Macron’s remarks adopted a suspected Islamist extremist decapitating a schoolteacher in a Paris suburb in October after he confirmed the cartoons to pupils throughout a lesson on freedom of expression.
Tayeb’s place was unmoved on Sunday as he reiterated his defence of Islam’s sacredness. Depictions of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam.
“Insulting our Prophet is completely unacceptable and we will pursue anyone who disrespects our honourabble Prophet in international courts, even if we spend the rest of our lives on this matter only,” he forcefully stated in a press release launched by Al-Azhar.
Sent to defuse tensions, Le Drian sought to convey an emollient message following the assembly.
“I noted many points of convergence in our respective analysis,” he advised reporters. “The Grand Imam proposed we work together towards a common convergence… because together we must fight fanaticism.”
– ‘Deep respect for Islam’ –
In a press convention alongside Egyptian international minister Shoukry earlier on Sunday, Le Drian had likewise struck a conciliatory tone.
“I have emphasised, and emphasise here the deep respect we have for Islam,” stated the French minister.
“What we are fighting is terrorism, it is the hijacking of religion, it is extremism,” he added, noting he got here “to explain, if need be, this fight, and at the same time the fight for respect for the freedom of belief”.
Demonstrations erupted in a number of Muslim-majority international locations after Macron defended the proper to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, seen by many as insulting and an assault on Islam.
Sisi himself had weighed in on the controversy final month, saying that “to insult the prophets amounts to underestimating the religious beliefs of many people”.
Le Drian’s go to additionally included dialogue on Egypt’s conflict-hit western neighbour Libya.
“The developments in recent weeks are going in the right direction,” he stated, referring to a ceasefire settlement and negotiations between opposing sides, together with the most recent spherical of peace talks between rival administrations held in Morocco.
He stated each France and Egypt had been on the identical web page in demanding the quick withdrawal of international mercenaries from Libya and respecting a United Nations arms embargo.
Le Drian will journey to Morocco for conferences with officers within the kingdom on Monday.
Asked about political prisoners held in Egyptian jails, Shoukry stated, “there is no arbitrary detention, there is only detention according to the law”.
Rights teams estimate that Egypt has some 60,000 political detainees, together with Palestinian-Egyptian activist Ramy Shaath, husband of French nationwide Celine Lebrun.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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