Iran Laments Death of 3 US Muslims
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham expressed regret on Sunday at the shooting death of three young Muslims in the US by a suspect she called an “extremist assailant".
Afkham denounced as “highly regrettable” the February 10 killing of three young American Muslims that provoked widespread reaction by both Muslims and non-Muslims inside and outside the US.
Expressing sympathy to the families of the victims, she noted, “I express my deep regret at the targeted promotion and spread of Islamophobia and anti-Islam sentiments, and call for justice and restoration of the rights of families of the victims by the US administration.”
Afkham also urged the international community’s efforts to preserve the “religious and human values” in the “materialist societies”, saying the public media can play a major role in portraying the real image of Islam and preventing extremism.
Three days after death of the young Muslims, US President Barack Obama on Friday described the incident as "brutal and outrageous murders" and said no one in the US should be targeted for their religion.
Newlywed Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, a student at North Carolina State University, were killed in a condominium about two miles (three km) from the UNC campus.
The families had called on Obama to insist that federal authorities investigate whether the murder suspect, 46-year-old paralegal student Craig Stephen Hicks, was motivated by hatred toward the victims because they were Muslim.