LOS ANGELES - A US Muslim group on Wednesday demanded a public apology from online book retailer Amazon.com over the delivery of a desecrated Koran to a shocked customer.
Los Angeles-based graduate student Azza Basarudin told journalists she received the holy book with the words "Death to All Muslims" and a short, profanity-laced statement scrawled across the inside cover.
The second-hand Koran was ordered through Amazon.com from a third-party seller, Bellwether Books based in the eastern state of Pennsylvania.
But when it arrived, the words "Death to All Muslims" and a short, profanity-laced statement were scrawled across the inside cover, the recipient said. It was unclear when or by whom the book was defaced.
But Muslim lobby group, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said that while Amazon had apologised for its part in delivering the desecrated Koran, it needed to do more.
"An apology isn't enough because an apology recognised that there was a mistake, made but we have received no guarantees that this mistake won't be repeated," MPAC spokeswoman Edina Lekovic told AFP.
"We don't believe that it was malicious or intentional by Amazon or its distributor, but you can't deliver defective products that have such detrimental emotional effects," she said.
MPAC is demanding Amazon conduct an investigation, issue a public condemnation of the desecration, establish a zero-tolerance policy toward sellers and employees and support MPAC's hate crime prevention programme.
Amazon.com's Patty Smith said there had never previously been a problem with Korans supplied by Bellwether and that Amazon had instructed its supplier to apply more stringent controls to second hand books in the future.
Smith also said that Amazon.com has apologised, refunded Basarudin's money, and sent out a copy of the Quran from Amazon and a gift certificate.
But Basarudin said she was still distressed over the shocking discovery.
05/19/2005 00:18 GMT