UN human rights chief calls anti-Islam film ‘malicious’ and says it should be ignored

GENEVA – The U.N.’s top human rights official says the anti-Islam film that has provoked violent demonstrations across the world is “malicious” — and political and religious leaders must do whatever they can to restore calm.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says the film “portrays a disgracefully distorted image of Muslims” that is a deliberate effort to spark the kinds of protests that 15 or more countries have experienced.

She said in a statement Friday that she condemns the murders of U.S. diplomats and Libyan embassy employees in Benghazi, Libya, and the violence that has taken place there and elsewhere.

Pillay says sometimes it is best just to ignore these kinds of provocations because “deliberate and obnoxious acts of this type should be deprived of the oxygen of publicity.”