Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, said on Wednesday that the way in which some public commentators immediately associated the horrifying mass murder in Norway last Friday with terrorism is revealing and indeed an embarrassing example of the powerful impact of prejudices and their capacity to enshrine stereotypes. Proper respect for the victims and their families should have precluded the drawing of conclusions based on pure conjecture.

At least 75 people have died as a result of twin attacks an explosion in the centre of the capital, Oslo, and a shooting at a nearby island where a youth camp was taking place.

Many initial media reports focused on Norway's contribution of troops to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and implied that may be connected to the bombing and shooting. Yet the suspect in the massacre is a non-Muslim.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011