SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER URGES CLERICS TO EXPAND THEIR BAN ON SUICIDE TERROR BEYOND PAKISTANI BORDERS

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging Pakistani religious leaders to expand their ban on suicide attacks beyond the borders of their country. According to a translation from MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), twenty-eight religious groups recently held a conference in Lahore, Pakistan. There, they issued a fatwa declaring suicide attacks inside Pakistan to be haram, or forbidden in Islam.

"It is always important when a group of religious leaders declare suicide terror as haram," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "Tragically, it appears that they have reserved their outrage over such inhuman religious-inspired acts to be confined within the borders of their own country. The decision by Muttahida Ulema Council of Pakistan can only serve as a turning point if they and other religious Muslim leaders once and for all declare that all suicide terror, no matter what the cause or who the target, is haram," Cooper concluded.

The Wiesenthal Center initially launched a global campaign to make suicide terror a "crime against humanity" in 2004 during a meeting with the late Pope John Paul II. The Center's initiative has since been discussed with over 20 Foreign Ministers and was the basis for a motion passed by the Australian Parliament, and by the Counter-Terrorism Commission of the Latin-American Parlatino (Parliament). Center officials have met with Pope Benedict and also urged U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon to hold a special session at the United Nations on the issue.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United, UNESCO, the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

For more information, contact the Center's public relations department, 310-772-2458.