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Showing posts with label Mohammed cartoons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mohammed cartoons. Show all posts

Sunday, 17 October 2010

Denmark: FM denies apologizing for Mohammed cartoons

Denmark denies apologizing for Mohammad cartoons | Top News | Reuters:
Denmark's foreign minister denied Thursday that she had apologized on a Middle East trip for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, initially published by a Danish newspaper in 2005, that angered many Muslims.

Middle East media, including the English-language Egyptian Gazette and Arabic television network Al-Arabiya, said Lene Espersen had apologized for the cartoons during her visit to Cairo Wednesday.

But Espersen said on Danish TV 2 News Thursday she had not issued any apology for the drawings.

"I can clearly deny that I have given an apology," Espersen said. "But I can confirm that I have said that freedom of expression is not so extensive that it would not have any limits."

...The Egyptian Gazette cited Egypt's Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb as saying that Espersen "renewed her country's apology for the publication of these cartoons and pointed out Denmark's efforts to issue a law criminalizing contempt of religions."

Espersen said that she told the Sheikh that the Danish government found it regrettable that many people were offended by the drawings and that the government condemns demonizing of groups of people based on their religion or ethnic background.

But Espersen, who faces a general election before the end of November next year, also said that citizens had a right to express themselves within the limits of the law without interference from the government, TV 2 News said on its website.
Photo.

Wednesday, 13 October 2010

Saudi Arabia: Top political body 'rejects pact over Mohammed cartoons' with Denmark

AFP: Top Saudi body 'rejects pact over Mohammed cartoons':
"A top Saudi political body has rejected a bilateral pact with Denmark over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper, media reports said on Tuesday. 
The Shura Council voted 62 to 56 on Monday against a memorandum of understanding on bilateral consultations after several members expressed unhappiness over the cartoons, the newspapers Okaz and Shams reported. 
Several council members clapped and cheered at the rare political rebuke from the all-appointed body, which reviews legislation, policies and treaties but only advises the government.
The Saudi foreign ministry and Danish diplomatic officials could not be reached for comment on details of the pact, which the Shura Council sent back to committee for review. 
Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper published 12 caricatures of Mohammed in 2005, triggering Muslim anger worldwide and violent protests in some countries."
Background:
Yale Press Bans Images of Muhammad in New Book.
Yale University publishes press release on the Danish cartoons.
Aftenposten reprints Mohammed cartoons.
Metropolitan Museum pulls images of Mohammed from its collection.
East African Terrorism Comes to Scandinavia.
Denmark: Suspect in bombing masks his ID, Danish police sees Jylands-Posten as target.
Book: The Tyranny of Silence.
Mohammed Cartoons: "We condemn the publication of The Tyranny of Silence", OICSG Ihsanoglu says.

Friday, 1 October 2010

Mohammed Cartoons: "We condemn the publication of The Tyranny of Silence", OICSG Ihsanoglu says

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu today strongly condemned the publication of the book entitled “Tyranny of Silence” in Denmark. The book contains a compilation of denigrating caricatures and cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) published by the Jyllands Posten in 2005 which aroused worldwide condemnation and denunciation, and caused hurt and insult to the sentiments of Muslims around the world.

The OIC Secretary General expressed his dismay and disappointment at the release of the book despite the fact that he and some other leaders of the Muslim countries had personally addressed letters to the Foreign Minister of Denmark urging the intervention of the Danish government against the publication due to the highly provocative and inciting contents of the book. He reiterated his position when the Foreign Minister of Denmark called on him to discuss the issue at the sidelines of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly.

Emphasizing the moral responsibility of the political leadership of Denmark in this regard, the Secretary General said that the publication of the book was a deliberate attempt to incite prejudices and animosity which would undermine the ongoing efforts of the international community for promoting understanding and peaceful coexistence among peoples of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds.
They insist then on their position: no one can criticize, mock or just laugh about their positions. Government can't at all interfere in the publication of a book that is paid privately, with no public money. But we have to read this statement taking into account what Mr. Ihsanoglu said when the Mohammed cartoons were published the first time.

He said that "Violence weakens us" (link above), a striking statement that leads to think he is not worried about people actually harmed by enraged Muslims, but rather about how the public opinion perceives those Muslims. There is no prejudice or animosity in publishing those cartoons, and there would never have been any problem with them, if they wouldn't have ended in violence. The alleged prejudices wouldn't have even existed if (an important part of) Muslims wouldn't have got enraged or have justified that because of the alleged "insults" to Mohammed.

But who is the responsible for the violence? The cartoons? Or the violent people?

Thursday, 23 September 2010

Book: The Tyranny of Silence

It will be about the Mohammed cartoons, and, yes, the "controversial" cartoons will also be depicted. From CNN:
The cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked protests worldwide four years ago will be republished in a new book soon.
Staffers at Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten said the cartoons will be in a book created by cultural editor Flemming Rose and will be titled "The Tyranny of Silence."
Rose could not be reached for comment.
The book is scheduled to hit stores on September 30, staffers said.

Denmark: Suspect in bombing masks his ID, Danish police sees Jylands-Posten as target

A bombing suspect who is accused of blowing up a hotel toilet in Copenhagen, along with himself, is a one-legged amateur boxer who was born in insurgency-racked Chechnya and has shown what one scholar calls "highly professional" tradecraft in concealing his identity and purpose from Danish authorities.

The would-be bomber's target, Danish police said, was likely the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world in 2006 by publishing 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad and has been the object of at least one foiled terrorist attack since.

"We are reasonably sure that was the target," Chief Superintendent Svend Foldager of the Copenhagen police, the lead investigator in the case, said at a briefing Friday.

"We're dealing with a letter bomb," said Mr. Foldager, adding that the parcel contained small steel pellets designed to maximize casualties and would have exploded with a force of a small hand grenade. "It was capable of injuring a lot of people, depending on where it exploded."

Mr. Foldager also said the device used triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a volatile acetone-based explosive used by al Qaeda in the July 2005 London subway bombings and other attacks.
Found at Grendel Report.

For more information check Islam in Europe.