A Norwegian Christian magazine has published a set of controversial caricatures of the prophet Mohammed after months of uproar in the Muslim world over a Danish paper's decision to print the same cartoons, according to Al-Jazeera.
LIGHT HIS FIRE: Danish preacher Moses Hansen heads a Christian demonstration in the street in Copenhagen Tuesday, January 10. Denmark's prime minister Tuesday accused a group of local Muslims of smearing the country's reputation in the Middle East as they sought support against a newspaper that published caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The banner here reads Jesus is alive, Mohammed is dead. (AP Photo / Kim Agersten)Repeating a move by conservative Danish paper Jyllands-Posten last September, Magazinet published the controversial drawings in the name of "freedom of expression" on Tuesday. The same caricatures have been criticised by Muslims in Denmark and abroad, since images of the prophet are considered blasphemous under Islam.
"Just like Jyllands-Posten, I have become sick of the ongoing hidden erosion of the freedom of expression," Magazinet editor Vebjoern Selbekk wrote. The murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004 revealed "that we are not facing empty threats. We know that the freedom of expression in our part of the world is being threatened by religion that is not afraid of using violence," he added. Selbekk said he was not afraid of the prospect of facing the same indignation and even death threats that faced the Danish paper after it published the cartoons.
Norwegian Muslims are outraged already. "The Supreme Islamic Council (SIC) condemns in the strongest possible terms the publishing of such offensive cartoons by Magazinet," SIC Head Mohammad Hamdan told IslamOnline.net over the phone from Oslo.
"What on earth does freedom of expression mean?" a furious Hamadan asked. "What is the real motive behind this act? Is it out of free speech or to insult Muslims who make up the largest minority in Norway?" He said it was crystal clear that the publishers wanted to trigger a sectarian sedition inside peaceful Norway. "These caricatures do no good for Muslims, Christians or even atheists, but will only shake the national unity to its foundations," Hamadan said.
He went on to say, "The prophet himself will not be affected by such provocative drawings, which are aimed at today's Muslims." Hamadan said these cartoons must have been published by a bunch of "extremists" in the Christian magazine. "We never heard of this magazine and had it not been for news agencies, we wouldn't have known about the publishing," he said.
SIMMERING ANGER: Muslims gather to protest in Copenhagen, Denmark in this October 14, 2005 file photo after cartoons were published in a local newspaper with an unflattering characterisation of the Prophet Mohammed. A group of Danish Muslims said Monday January 9, that it will appeal a decision by a regional prosecutor not to investigate the paper that published the 12 contentious caricatures. (AP Photo/John McConnico)Hamadan said that this magazine did in no way speak for the Christian community in Norway. "Some Christian organisations have already denounced in statements the magazine's act and distanced themselves from it," the Muslim leader said. "Editors should not take free speech as an excuse to insult a certain religion; otherwise they risk an extremist response from the offended, which carries grave consequences."
Meanwhile in Denmark, a regional prosecutor said he would not file charges against Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that published contentious caricatures of Mohammed. State prosecutor Peter Broendt Joergensen said Saturday the drawings were protected by Denmark’s freedom of speech laws and did not violate bans on racism and blasphemy, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
"We cannot understand the decision," said Ahmad Akkari, a spokesman for a coalition of 11 community groups, adding that they would take their complaints to Denmark’s top prosecutor. He said the 12 caricatures, published September 30 in Jyllands-Posten, were a "clear offense to Islam."
Irked at the rejection of the case, Danis Muslims are now planning to take their legal battle against Jyllands-Posten to the country's federal attorney general and the European Union human rights commission. "We intend to file a lawsuit with the federal attorney general against Jyllands-Poston for its blasphemous cartoons," Asmaa Abdul Hamid, an activist representing 11 Muslim organisations, told IslamOnline.net Sunday.
"We want to internationalise this issue so that the Danish government would realise that the cartoons were not only insulting to Muslims in Denmark but also to Muslims worldwide," said Abu Laban, the imam of the Scandinavian Waqfs mosque, was reported as saying by IslamOnline.net. "It was decided to take such a step because it is wrong to turn a blind eye to the fact that some European countries discriminate against their Muslims on the grounds that they are not democratic and that they can not understand western culture."
