ERDOGAN CRITICISES EGYPT FOR INTERPOL BID ON MUSLIM SCHOLAR

Ankara, 16 Safar 1436/9 December 2014 (MINA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday criticised Egypt for having Interpol issue an arrest warrant for a Muslim scholar.

“Look, a person who came to power through a coup is giving instructions to Interpol,” Erdogan told a religious council in Ankara as quoted by Ahram online and Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

The scholar Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi who is president of the Union of Muslim Scholars, is a strong supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt had approached Interpol seeking Qaradawi’s arrest and in November Interpol put him on its wanted list.

“A step is being taken for arrest of Youssef al-Qaradawi, president of the Union of Muslim Scholars,” he said.

“What kind of a business is this? Science cannot be at the disposal of politics. Politics is the servant of science,” he added.

“Things have turned upside down. All of these developments show the world is unfortunately going not for the good but for the bad.”

Qaradawi, 88, is an Egyptian-Qatari national and a prominent Sunni cleric based in Doha.

He is named as a defendant in several trials along with many Muslim Brotherhood members, including one which has Morsi as a co-defendant.

Turkey is one of the staunchest supporters of the brotherhood, with Erdogan calling Morsi’s removal from power a “coup”. (T/R04/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)