Copenhagen (Denmark), May 03: A Danish newspaper has said it had filed a defamation lawsuit against a lawyer representing a group of Muslim organisations that sued the daily for publishing Prophet Muhammad cartoons, which sparked riots across the world.
The Jyllands-Posten sued Michael Christiani Havemann for saying its top editors ordered a cartoonists to deliberately make a "gross" drawing of the Prophet Muhammad because those solicited by freelance artists were not good enough.
The 12 cartoons published by the daily in September prompted angry mobs to attack western embassies in Muslim countries, including Lebanon, Iran and Indonesia. The cartoons later were reprinted in several countries worldwide.
Islamic law forbids any depiction of the Prophet, even positive ones, to prevent idolatry.
Jyllands-Posten editor in chief Carsten Juste said Havemann's accusations "are simply so gross and insulting that he has crossed the line for what we will accept."
"The cartoonists were explicitly asked to freely depict the Prophet Muhammad as they saw him, in other words without any directions from the newspaper's side," he said in a statement. The purpose of the cartoons was to challenge a perceived self-censorship among artists afraid to offend Islam, Juste said.
Bureau Report The newspaper is seeking USD 16,800 in damages, and demanded a court ruling stating Havemann's statement was incorrect.
