Iman Chairman welcomes comments by President Obama & President Putin calling for an end to extremism

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Obama Calls for End to Extremism, Criticizes Syria and Iran

Posted September 25th, 2012

blogs.voanews.com

U.S. President Barack Obama has called on global leaders to “speak out forcefully against violence and extremism,” saying the world can only make progress by pursuing tolerance and freedom.

Mr. Obama spent much of his speech Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly on the weeks of violent protests sparked by a privately-produced anti-Muslim video made in the U.S.

He called on delegates to marginalize those who use hatred as a political weapon.

“If we are serious about upholding these ideals, it will not be enough to put more guards in front of an Embassy; or to put out statements of regret, and wait for the outrage to pass. If we are serious about those ideals, we must speak honestly about the deeper causes of this crisis.”

Mr. Obama called the amateur video crude and disgusting, but said it did not justify the spilling of any innocent blood — including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, who was killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti)

Putin urges crackdown on extremism

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged tough resistance to religious extremism in Syria, Libya and other countries, but also called for respecting people’s religious sentiments.

“We consider it necessary to increase joint efforts to counter terrorist threats and extremism wherever it may be – in Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan,” he said during a meeting with foreign ambassadors. “Double standards do not belong here.”

He added: "Terrorists need to be given a hard and unanimous rebuff, but only while respecting the cultural values and religious feelings of the people."

Putin also seemed to hoist Russia as an example of multi-ethnic and multi-religious harmony, saying that Russian history “shows no alternative than to preserve civil peace and harmony in society.”

Commenting on the story, Ribal Al-Assad, Chairman of the Iman Foundation, said:

"I welcome the comments made by President Obama and President Putin. I absolutely agree that it is imperative that global leaders speak out forcefully against violence and extremism and that the world can only make progress by pursuing tolerance and freedom. I call upon world leaders to act on this and hold to account all those who advocate and support violence and extremism across the world.

"The international community needs to do more to tackle extremism on all sides and to promote greater dialogue between all cultures and religions, and to promote moderate voices to prevent extremists hijacking religions to create hatred and extremism. Dialogue is key to bringing greater understanding, tolerance and co-existence in the world."