بريطانيا: سياسي بريطاني يحرق نسخة من المصحف

قامت صحيفة "أوبزرفر" البريطانية بتسليم إدارة شرطة جنوب "ويلز" فيلمًا مسجلاً لعضو الحزب البريطاني القومي اليميني، والمرشح لعضوية مجلس "ويلز" "سيون أوينز" - 40 عامًا - أثناء قيامه بغمر نسخة من المصحف في الكيروسين ثم حرقها بحديقة منزله.

وعلى الفور قامت الشرطة بإلقاء القبض على المجرم البريطاني للتحقيق معه في جريمته النكراء، وقامت الحكومة بإصدار بيان تؤكد فيه استنكارها للحادثة الإجرامية، وتشير إلى أن ما قام به السياسي الويلزي يخالف بشدة قيم التعددية بالمجتمع البريطاني المتسامح. المصدر: شبكة الألوكة.

يرجى الإشارة إلى المصدر عند نقل الخبر - شبكة الألوكة.

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BNP election candidate arrested over Qur'an burning

Footage leaked to the Observer shows Welsh Assembly candidate setting fire to Islamic holy book in his garden

A senior member of the BNP who burned a copy of the Qur'an in his garden has been arrested following an investigation by the Observer.

Footage of the burning shows Sion Owens, 40, from south Wales and a candidate for the forthcoming Welsh Assembly elections, soaking the Qur'an in kerosene and setting fire to it.

A video clip of the act, leaked to the Observer and passed immediately to South Wales police, provoked fierce criticism from the government.

A statement from the Home Office said: "The government absolutely condemns the burning of the Qur'an. It is fundamentally offensive to the values of our pluralist and tolerant society.

"We equally condemn any attempts to create divisions between communities and are committed to ensuring that everyone has the freedom to live their lives free from fear of targeted hostility or harassment on the grounds of a particular characteristic, such as religion."

Owens, who has previously stood for a council seat, was last Tuesday unveiled by the BNP as a candidate for next month's assembly elections. Several photographs place him alongside party leader Nick Griffin, including one showing the pair embracing during a party conference.

The footage comes at a time of heightened tensions. Internationally, protests continued in Afghanistan last week against the recent Qur'an burning by the US pastor Terry Jones in his Florida church.

Jones's act triggered a wave of global violence that nine days ago led to protesters storming a UN Afghan compound, killing three UN staff members and four Nepalese guards. Police had feared that far-right British extremists might attempt to stir tensions here by replicating Jones's stunt.

Superintendent Phil Davies of South Wales police, who led the investigation, said: "We always adopt an extremely robust approach to allegations of this sort and find this sort of intolerance unacceptable in our society."

Owens was arrested within hours of police receiving the video. A second person, believed to have filmed the Qur'an burning, is also in police custody.

It is unclear when the incident took place, but the five-minute footage is already understood to have been circulated to extremists. There is no evidence that Griffin was aware of the film.

When Jones went ahead with his "punishment" of the Qur'an on 20 March it was initially largely ignored until it was streamed on the internet and preserved on YouTube.

The footage of the burning in Britain clearly identifies Owens, who is wearing a "Whitelaw No Surrender" T-shirt. The film starts with the Qur'an lying in a Quality Street tin before Owens begins dousing the holy book in flammable liquid and then setting fire to it. The camera zooms in as the Qur'an burns.