Kenyan Muslims demand US apology over 'hate video'

Kenyan Muslim leaders have demanded an apology from the US President Barack Obama over a video they say insulted Islam.

The leaders said the video, posted on Youtube by an individual in the US but yet to be clearly identified, that portrayed Prophet Mohammed as immoral was offensive and unacceptable.

The leaders said the video was provocative and “a pure recipe for religious disharmony”.

The joint-statement by the Jamia Mosque Community, the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, the National Muslim Leaders Forum and the National Council of Muslim Scholars condemned the “blasphemous” film adding that it depicted Muslims as immoral.

“It is shocking that a film could be acted, edited, promoted and funded in the USA, a country that claims to be the champion of respect for fundamental rights,” said the leaders in a statement read by Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome.

The statement issued at the Jamia Mosque after Friday’s prayers blamed the US authorities for allowing the film to be broadcast on the social site yet it could have been banned.

“That America could allow such a film to emanate from its soil uncensored speaks a lot about the deliberate and calculated conspiracy against Islam,” they said and also petitioned the government to decisively act by condemning it and its authors.

Globally, Muslims have been angered by the US-made video depicting Prophet Mohammed in bad light.