UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that no religion in the world can condone the burning of the Koran, dpa reported.
Ban said he was "deeply disturbed" by reports that a religious group plans to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday, on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.
He said burning the Koran "contradicts the efforts of the UN and many people around the world to promote tolerance, intercultural understanding and mutual respect between cultures and religions."
Terry Jones, the pastor of an evangelical congregation of just 50 people at the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville, Florida, has rejected strong demands to cancel a planned "International Burn a Koran Day" on Saturday.