At a ceremony marking the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, Lybian leader Gaddafi said “It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad ought to be proclaimed by all means,” Switzerland an “infidel, obscene state which is destroying mosques.” Gaddafi called on Muslims worldwide to boycott Swiss products and to ban Swiss planes and ships from landing on Muslim nations.
World condemnation of Gaddafi’s remarks was broad and swift. The French foreign minister said that any dispute between the two countries should be solve diplomatically. A spokesman for the EU’s foreign affairs chief said the remarks were “unfortunate,” and the UN director-general in Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, characterized the remarks as “inadmissible.”
Gaddafi’s remarks come after Switzerland voted to ban the construction of minarets. There are 400,000 Muslims living in Switzerland, and over 200 mosques in the country.
Read more at Al Jazeera.
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