Iranian Judiciary Chief Meets Malaysian Premier

Visiting Iranian Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi met with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi on Monday. During the meeting, Hashemi Shahroudi noted the plots hatched by the world arrogance to sow discord between the Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and reminded that the Shiites have always accompanied other faiths to defend the rule of Islam and Sunni Muslim governments.

“Today our country is defending the Palestinian nation and our jurisprudence does not differentiate Muslims in this ground,” he continued.

“We should have a single (Islamic) view about political sovereignty and show respect for the rules and principles of democracy, public vote and loyalty to Islam,” the head of Iran’s judiciary stated.

He further pointed out that the differences among Muslims originate from outside the borders of Islamic countries, and underlined, “If Muslims do not pay attention to those outside the Islamic community, problems will be solved.”

For his part, Malaysian Prime Minister welcomed Shahroudi and his accompanying delegation, and mentioned, “Koran is the reason for our unity and belief in God and the Holy Koran and movement on this path leads to Muslim unity.”

Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi further pointed to the recent extraordinary summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for the settlement of Lebanon’s problems, and described it as fruitful.

“This summit resulted in a change in the procedures adopted by the United Nations and European Union in connection with Lebanon ,” he said.

The Malaysian premier viewed deployment of the UN troops in Lebanon as necessary, and stressed that Islamic countries should adopt a single approach towards the issues of Iraq and Palestine.

Noting Iran’s influence in Palestine, he reiterated the need for all Muslim countries to voice support for the wide participation of all Islamic groups in the formation of a national unity government in Palestine.

Shahroudi is accompanied by a number of Iranian officials, including justice minister, head of the supreme court and several of his deputies, in his official three-day visit to Malaysia.

The judiciary chief and his entourage will leave Malaysia for Indonesia on Wednesday.