Nation Correspondent
6 June 2005
Nairobi — A meeting in Mombasa to mark the death of a former Iran President was yesterday turned into a forum to condemn the US government over its alleged fight against Islam.
Several Islamic scholars at the 16th anniversary of the death of the spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini at the weekend accused the US of allegedly dividing the Muslim world in the name of democracy.
But in a quick rejoinder, US spokesman Peter Claussen denied the allegation saying that there were many Muslims in the the country.
"We can not possibly fight Islam. In the US, there are too many Muslims and we cannot just decide to fight the religion because doing so will mean fighting ourselves," he said.
The public forum that was held at the Jafferey Institute of Professional Studies, also saw the return of controversial Islamic preacher, Sheikh Ali Shee, who accused the US of causing disunity among the Islamic world with the sole purpose of stopping further spread of the faith.
Sheikh Shee, formerly the chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, claimed that US government had given itself the authority to decide which countries in the world were entitled to have certain weapons and which ones should not.
"Who is the US to decide which country should have this kind of weapon and which should not? Why are they demanding that Iran and North Korea should not have certain types of weapons while Israel should have a particular type?" he asked.
Iranian ambassador to Kenya, Mr Mohammed Rais, refused to be drawn into the debate and instead paid his tribute to the Khomeini, describing him as a true Muslim.
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