Lawmaker presses Clinton on US-OIC talks

A US lawmaker has urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to push back against the "criminalization of speech deemed critical of Islam" at a meeting next week of the world's largest Muslim body.

In a December 8 letter, Republican Representative Ted Poe pressed Clinton to use a December 12-14 meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Washington to address the issue.

"We are eager to work with you to preserve the universal right of all individuals to speak out freely regardless of their religious beliefs," said Poe, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"The OIC's charter, however, clearly is against this most basic human right, and we ask that you use all the resources at our disposal to protect freedom of speech around the world," he wrote in the letter, which was obtained by AFP.

Clinton addressed the OIC on July 15 and said she hoped the Washington meeting would help "build those muscles of respect and empathy and tolerance" for people of different religious faiths.

But US conservatives have charged that the OIC charter's pledge "to combat defamation of Islam" has helped give rise to harsh laws used to repress freedom of speech throughout the Muslim world.

"Such a notion is wholly antithetical to our constitutional freedoms of speech and religion. We therefore urge you to address the issue at your meeting," said Poe.