'Islam forbids violence'
2004-09-12 22:01
Vienna - Iran's Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has issued a call for Islam not be associated with terror acts committed in its name, Austrian news agency APA reported on Sunday.
"Each time somebody commits murder in the name of Islam, you should know that the name of Islam is being abused ... All religions forbid terrorism and violence," the lawyer who won the award in 2003 told a gathering of intellectuals at Melk in northern Austria at the weekend.
She said by the same token the atrocities committed in Bosnia and Israel could not be attributed to the Christian or Jewish faiths.
However, Ebadi lamented that "certain Islamic governments are not prepared to accept an interpretation of Islam that is compatible with democracy and human rights."
She did not name any state, but had earlier here called on Tehran to respect human rights and denounced an Iranian law that authorises the execution of minors.