The Cartoon Row

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has appealed for calm and reason even as the controversy over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed moved in disturbing new directions: "While we understand that many Muslims have been shocked by these caricatures, as Islam forbids any physical representation of the Prophet, there is no justification for calls for violence or threats of any kind." The...

PARIS (Reuters) - One man's cartoon can be another man's crime. The row over Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, which has sparked off protests and boycott calls throughout the Middle East, has turned into a verbal clash of civilizations pitting Western freedom of speech against Muslim taboos. The more that Muslim countries protest, withdraw ambassadors and boycott Danish goods over what...

Muslim condemnation of the European media campaign to reprint controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed spread on Thursday, with leaders warning the controversy could play into the hands of extremists. President Hosni Mubarak said the reprinting of the cartoons – originally published by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, they were reproduced this week in newspapers across Europe – would lead to...

In September 2005, a Danish newspaper published 10 cartoons, including one depicting the prophet Muhammad with a bomb on his turban. There were immediate protests within Denmark and the situation has recently escalated to the point where Danish goods are being boycotted, Scandinavian aid workers have been pulled out of Gaza and ambassadors have been recalled. One striking feature of these events...

The BBC has involved itself in a growing Europe-wide controversy by broadcasting cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused outrage in the Islamic world and led to the sacking of a French newspaper editor. The corporation showed the images as they appeared in French newspaper France Soir as part of a story on the controversy on today's One O'Clock News bulletin and on the News 24 channel...

The Spectator has pulled a controversial cartoon of the prophet Muhammad from its website. The image was one of a series of cartoons - originally published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten - that have generated outrage in the Muslim world and a huge row about freedom of speech across Europe. The magazine's acting editor, Stuart Reid, said he had not been responsible for uploading the picture...

PARIS, February 1, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – French Muslim leaders on Wednesday, February 1, denounced in unison the reprinting of a series of explosive cartoons blasphemous to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by a French daily and vowed to take the case to French courts. "We call on French Muslims to peacefully protest this aggression on the Prophet of Islam," the French Council for the Muslim Religion...

Free speech means the right to be offensive about religious beliefs, MEPs insist amid a growing Muslim censorship row. Furious international and pan-European controversy has broken out over the publication of cartoons depicting Muslim prophet Muhammed in a Danish newspaper. Some Islamic countries have demanded bans on the publication of the cartoons, arguing that the caricatures are offensive and...

The diplomatic crisis between Denmark and the Muslim world may have been relatively slow to gather pace but now that it has, it is having a real impact. It began with a series of cartoons in a Danish newspaper - including one of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb. But today few people are laughing. The global outrage has led to the recall of ambassadors; Danish citizens...

A couple of simple caricatures printed in a Danish newspaper has the Arab world outraged. Unfortunately, the paper apologized for the Muhammad-critical cartoons and democratic values lost out to totalitarian ideology. In Germany and the rest of free Europe, one likes to talk about the necessity of learning from the past, of helping newcomers to the democratic club and of supporting stable...