By IANS,
London : A British Muslim group has protested against a free internet game in which players control an American soldier sent to “wipe out the Muslim race”.
The controversial game can be freely downloaded at www.muslimmassacre.com. The site introduces the game thus: “The United States of America has declared war on Islam! Take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world’s most destructive weapons!”
The game provokes customers to download the game by asking them not to be “liberal” in attitude.
The game’s creator, a freelance programmer known as Sigvatr, described the game on the SomethingAwful.com website as “fun and funny”, according to The Independent. In a “How you can help” section, he writes to visitors: “Don’t whinge about how offensive and ‘edgy’ this is.”
British Muslim youth organisation The Ramadhan Foundation has strongly condemned the game.
“This game is glorifying the killing of Muslims in the Middle East and we urge ISP providers to take action to remove this site from their services as it incites violence towards Muslims and is trying to justify the killing of innocent Muslims.
“We have written to the British government to urge an inquiry into this game and take action to shut down the site. This is not satire but a deliberate attempt to demonise Muslims.”
The foundation’s chief executive, Mohammed Shafiq, added: “Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive. There is an increase in violence in this country and some of it comes from video games. When kids spend six hours a day on violent games they are more likely to go outside and commit violence.”
He said: “If it was the other way around, with a game featuring Muslims killing Israelis or Americans, there would be uproar and rightly so. I would urge ISPs to take action against sites like this and there can be no justification for this sort of video game. I hope the person who made this game thinks again.”
The game was first released in January this year but has become more popular in recent days after being linked to by several prominent blogs.