UN Official's Remarks Spark Protest in Sri Lanka

"Maldivians believe UN is spreading anti-Islamic activities in the Maldives. We want the UN to apologize" - protester Abdullah Mohammed.

Navi Pillay photo courtesy: iraqwarlogs.com

(COLOMBO, Sri Lanka) - Hundreds of Maldivians protested the United Nations on Friday after an official called on this Muslim nation to end religious extremism and practices including punishing women by flogging.

About 300 people shouted slogans against UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay Friday night, a day after she concluded a visit to the Indian ocean archipelago. They said Pillay has spoken against their country's constitution and Islam.

Addressing the country's Parliament, Pillay on Thursday called the flogging of women found to have had sex outside marriage "inhuman and degrading."

"At the very least, pending more permanent changes in the law, it should be possible for the government and the judiciary to engineer a practical moratorium on flogging," Pillay told reporters later.

"Intolerance, whether religious or racial or in any other of its many manifestations, is the enemy of democracy," she said. "It promotes fear and inequality, and stifles initiative."

Protesters carried placards and shouted slogans calling Pillay to resign and denouncing the Maldives authorities for having allowed her to speak in Parliament. They also briefly surrounded the UN offices in capital, Male but dispersed after police warned them.

"Maldivians believe UN is spreading anti-Islamic activities in the Maldives. We want the UN to apologize," said protester Abdullah Mohammed.

He said "the essence of human rights is to accept the religion and the constitution of the country. If they can't accept a democratically made constitution then they can't accept democracy."

Sunni Islam is the official religion in the Maldives, where practicing any other religion is forbidden.

According to the law, 30 lashes are given to women found to have committed adultery. Court officials would not give numbers on how many women are flogged in the conservative Muslim nation, but the punishment is usually done in public.

Special thanks to CTV.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20111125/un-protests-sri-lanka-111125/#ixzz1epwT5y8z

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