Fatwa issued against ‘anti-Islam’ film cast, crew

WASHINGTON – A Salafist cleric in Egypt is calling for the deaths of all those involved in the making of an anti-Muslim film that has outraged the Islamic world, SITE Intelligence Group said Monday, September 17.

In a statement, the terrorism monitoring service said Ahmad Fouad Ashoush issued his fatwa, or religious edict, against the cast and crew of “Innocence of Muslims” via jihadist Internet forums over the weekend.

“Those bastards who did this film are belligerent disbelievers,” Ashoush said, according to SITE’s translation of the lengthy Arabic statement.

“I issue a fatwa and call on the Muslim youth in America and Europe to do this duty, which is to kill the director, the producer and the actors and everyone who helped and promoted the film,” he said.

“So, hurry, hurry, O Muslim youth in America and Europe, and teach those filthy lowly ones a lesson that all the monkeys and pigs in America and Europe will understand. May Allah guide you and grant you success.”

In an allusion to police crackdowns on protests against the film, the cleric also denounced an unspecified “hypocritical group … busy breaking demonstrations” and apologizing to Washington for the unrest.

“Innocence of Muslims”, believed to have been produced by a small group of extremist Christian Americans, has sparked a week of furious protests outside US embassies and other American symbols in at least 20 countries.

Several cast members say they were duped into making the amateurish film, which has been linked to a non-profit group called Media for Christ, and was apparently produced by a convicted fraudster. – Agence France-Presse