The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor condemned the crime that resulted in the killing of at least 49 Muslims and wounded 50 others in two separate attacks this morning after targeting two mosques in Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island. 

The terrorist crime against Muslims in New Zealand came as the ongoing campaign of incitement against Muslims in the West continues in the media through spreading hate speech fed by right-wing parties.

Meanwhile, the Euro-Med Monitor spokeswoman, Sarah Pritchett, said that targeting Muslims while practicing their religious rites in mosques is a crime that reflects the extent of incitement against Muslims in the West, which poses a real threat to their lives and makes them targets for racists and extremists.

Pritchett called on the New Zealand authorities to secure places of worship and mosques in all cities, and to make every effort to curb hate speech organized by some people in the West against Muslims, which is a clear incitement against two fundamental rights under international human rights law - the right to life and the right to freedom of worship and belief.

Over the past years, an unprecedented levels of Islamophobia have been recorded, which some politicians and Western parties feed through their repeated speeches, such as President Trump who said during his election campaign “Islam hates us" accusing Muslim Americans of protecting terrorists, Pritchett added.

Pritchett also pointed out that the rise of populist anti-Muslim speech in Europe by extreme right-wing parties and groups that exploit Islamophobia to achieve political goals leads to the growing phenomenon of targeting Islamic centers and mosques in Europe, only because they belong to Islam.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Right Monitor expressed its deep solidarity with the victims' families in New Zealand, calling on the United Nations, the European Union and human rights organizations to take serious actions to combat hate speech and incitement of some Western media outlets which are supported by extreme right-wing parties.