WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) - A group of Utah Muslims are supporting a global Internet petition called "Not in the Name of Islam" that condemns acts of terrorism.

The petition by the Council on American-Islamic Relations was started in response to the beheading in Iraq of American civilian Nick Berg in retaliation for the treatment of Iraqis detained by Americans at Abu Ghraib prison.

Nora Abu-Dan, 11, wants peace in the world and feels that it's her duty as a Muslim to speak out against war and terrorism.

"You have to stand up," said Nora, a fifth-grader at Stansbury Elementary School. "Maybe one person can make a difference."

Islam means "peace," her father, Deeb Abu-Dan, said following a prayer service and sermon at West Valley's Khadeeja mosque on the Quran's call to treat prisoners of war "as if they are part of your family."

The petition by the Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group reads, in part: "No injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam."

While no official tally of signatures was immediately available, Muslims from 45 countries had signed the petition since it started Thursday, council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Friday.

Council on American-Islamic Relations spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed said the petition is a symbolic action to help dispel complaints her organization receives that Muslims don't speak out against terrorism.

"This is one way people will be able to see Muslims from around the world, not just in America, joining hands and condemning these types of acts," she said.

Donna Lee Bowen, professor of political science at Brigham Young University, said Muslims have been speaking out against terrorism locally but that their efforts aren't getting broad media coverage.

"What I've noticed, there is an enormous need to hear Muslims condemn terrorism," she said. "This has been impossible to do because Islam has no central hierarchy."

Imam Shuaib-Ud Din of the Khadeeja mosque said Utah's estimated 25,000 Muslims are speaking out through efforts such as a blood drive that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"I would disagree with the premise we have not made a stand, because we have," he said. "We don't have a religious hierarchy, no pope, to make a statement."