An Internet news portal has reported that Mustafa Ceric, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia, has called on Bosnian politicians “to refrain from judgements: on war crimes allegedly committed by Muslim forces during the `992-1995 war. According to a report by Adnkronos International:
Sarajevo, 28 May (AKI) – Bosnian Muslims’ spiritual leader Reiss-ul-Ulema Mustafa Ceric has urged politicians not to comment on war crimes allegedly committed by Muslim forces in Sarajevo and elsewhere during the 1992-1995 war. He referred to the acts of “patriots” according to local media reports on Friday. Ceric called on all politicians to “refrain from judgements on the events of the war, especially those for which they were not called to testify”. He called on Sulejman Tihic, the leader of main Muslim party, the Party of Democratic Action, to withdraw his earlier statement that “crimes were committed in Sarajevo in May 1992.” “A public statement that crimes were committed in Sarajevo’s Dobrovoljacka Street…is unnecessary and is not in the spirit of the rule of law,“ Ceric said.Ceric said he was acting “at the request of numerous Bosnian patriots who did what they had to do – defend the right to life and the honour of motherland.“ Tihic’s statement referred to the killing of 42 Yugoslav Army soldiers, the wounding of more than 50 and the capture of 200 by Muslim paramilitaries on Sarajevo’s Dobrovoljacka Street. Tihic blamed the Bosnian judiciary for having failed to try anyone for the Dobrovoljacka massacre. “Unfortunately there is a prevailing belief that others should be tried, but not those in our ranks,” Tihic said. Serbia last year issued arrest warrants for 19 former Bosnian officials and a wartime member of the Muslim state presidency Ejup Ganic, blaming them for ordering the Dobrovoljacka street massacre. Ganic was arrested in London on 1 March and is awaiting a British court ruling on a request from Serbia for his extradition. Ceric was among the Ganic’s strongest supporters and in protest over his arrest resigned as a member of the Blair Foundation, which received extensive publicity in Britain. The attack in Dobrovoljacka street was carried out by Muslim paramilitary ‘green berets’ despite an earlier agreement that the withdrawing army column would be given a safe passage out of Sarajevo.
Considered by some to be a leading “liberal” Islamic leader, Mustafa Ceric is tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood through his membership in the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), headed by Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and by his participation in the U.K.-based “Radical Middle Way” consisting of a wide range of associated scholars representing the global Muslim Brotherhood. Several earlier posts have discussed Dr. Ceric’s increasing visibility and importance within the global Muslim Brotherhood, noting that Ceric sees himself as a possible future leader of a “European Islam.” Dr. Ceric recently compared the Iranian Revolution with the French Revolution and Iranian media reported that Dr. Ceric recently told former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a meeting that he considers Iran a “good friend” of his country.” A post from October 2009 discussed his visit to the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), an important part of the U.S. and global Muslim Brotherhood.