Kabul, April 20: Three people have been arrested as officials probe claims that a paper mill in Afghanistan recycled copies of the Quran into toilet paper, the attorney general’s office said.
Around 1,000 angry demonstrators, some throwing stones, held a protest yesterday at the mill on the outskirts of Kabul, leaving the building partially destroyed.
Copies of the Quran were found inside the factory, Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said, adding that no-one was injured in the protest.
“The attorney general’s office and Kabul police have jointly tasked a delegation to investigate the alleged disrespect to our holy book in that factory,” a spokesman for the office, Amanullah Iman said.
“We have arrested three people including the director of the company so far… we are taking the issue very seriously.”
The burning of a copy of the Quran by a pastor in the United States last month sparked a wave of violent protests across Afghanistan which left at least 24 people dead.
This included seven UN staff killed in their compound in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
-Agencies