More Islamic countries have protested against a Swedish newspaper's publication of a cartoon that has been deemed offensive by Muslims. The Swedish government has, however, refused to apologise on behalf of the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper.
The Egyptian ministry of religious endowments Sunday denounced the cartoon as "irresponsible and offensive", according to Kuwaiti news agency KUNA. "Such an irresponsible act is not conducive to friendly ties between the Islamic world and the west," the ministry said.
Jordan also condemned the newspaper on Tuesday. "The publication of this cartoon, which seeks to attack the character of the Prophet Muhammad, is unacceptable, rejected and condemned," government spokesman Nasser Jawdeh said at a press conference. "Such cartoons do not serve inter-faith dialogue and co-existence, in which Jordan believes."
The Örebro-based newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published a cartoon on August 18 showing the prophet Mohammed's head on the body of a dog to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of expression and religion. At least two galleries declined to show the pictures, citing security fears. Alongside the picture, Nerikes Allehanda printed a leader regretting the galleries' "self-censorship".
The artist behind the controversial caricature , Lars Vilks, claims to have begun receiving death threats, according to the Local. "There have been a lot of threats. A variety of death threats have come through via telephone, email and in the comment section in my blog," Vilks told TV4. Despite the death threats, the artist said that he had no regrets about drawing the pictures of Mohammed. (This caricature and two related drawings can be found on his website.)
The Swedish government has said it regretted any hurt but could not apologise as it was not responsible for the drawing and could not prevent its publication. “In line with our freedom of speech, our democracy and our way of doing things, others make these kind of [editorial] decisions,” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in a radio interview.
Iran and Pakistan both have summoned Swedish diplomats to protest against the caricature, which has also been condemned by the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
OIC has condemned the publication, but also called on devout believers to react peacefully. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the Turkish secretary-general of OIC, urged the Swedish government to apologise for the publication, which observers fear could inflame a new "cartoon crisis" similar to the one which erupted two years ago following publication of defamatory caricatures in Danish and other media particularly in Europe.
"The caricatures in question do not bode well for freedom of expression," İhsanoğlu was quoted as saying by Zaman newspaper on Sunday. He called on the West to act in a "responsible" manner where values of Islam are concerned. "It has become a habit to insult our sacred values now. It is impossible to tolerate what has been done and what has been done cannot be considered a simple incident," İhsanoğlu told the daily.
Afghanistan on Saturday condemned the cartoon, calling it hostile towards the Muslim world. "Our Holy Prophet's cartoon has provoked all Afghans," wrote the Kabul Times, publishing a statement by religious scholars, imams and the Ministry of Islamic Guidance. "The sold-out enemies of Islam draw the cartoon of the respected Prophet of Islam once more. This has disturbed the Islamic world and aroused the indignation of all Muslims," the statement said. It demanded those responsible be handed over to a court for prosecution and punishment.
The cartoon was "a flagrant assault on the sanctities of more than 1.3 billion Muslims," said Adel bin Ali Sheddi, head of the Global Programme for Introducing the Prophet of Mercy, acording to a report in the Local. The organisation, based in the Saudi capital Riyadh, is affiliated to the Saudi-backed Muslim World League headquartered in Mecca.
A statement on the group's website prophet-of-mercy.com and carried by the official SPA news agency urged Muslims to take "practical and wise stands" in support of their prophet while "exercising restraint" in condemning the offensive cartoon.
Leading Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter on Saturday said the country would not apologise for the publication of the Mohammed cartoon. Dagens Nyheter said in an editorial Sweden "has a duty from now on to defend its principles and present an open dialogue." It said offended Muslims would not receive the apologies they are asking for.
Svenska Dagbladet, another broadsheet, said Sweden was now in a situation "which could escalate and slip away from Swedish control". Some observers did, however, according to news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), note important differences with Denmark, where the publication of cartoons deemed offensive two years ago caused deadly riots in several countries.
Unlike its Danish neighbor, Sweden has a reputation for taking in refugees and immigrants, the paper said. Sweden is the primary destination in Europe for asylum-seeking Iraqis, who are the second-largest immigrant community there.
