RELIGION: Dispute Rises Over Cartoons of Prophet

By Julio Godoy Reprint | | Print |

Julio Godoy

PARIS, Nov 28 2005 (IPS) - Islamic organisations are engaged in growing conflict with a Danish newspaper over its publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is due to consider the matter at its summit next month. Images of the prophet are considered blasphemous in Islam.

On the other hand, a leading newspapers association says OIC intervention would further threaten freedom of the press in an already “dark year” for journalists.

Larry Kilman, director of communications at the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) told IPS that the group is “very concerned” that the OIC continues to demand an apology from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for publishing a series of caricatures of Prophet Mohammed.

WAN called on the OIC two weeks ago to drop the issue from its conference agenda. “But we have received no answer at all,” Kilman told IPS.

Kilman said the Danish newspaper had a right to freedom of expression “with regard to Islam or any other religion, particularly when religion is an essential element of the global political debate.” The Jyllands-Posten editor-in-chief has said the cartoons were published to test whether fear of Muslim retaliation had begun to limit freedom of expression in Denmark.

Leaders from several Muslim countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia, have said in a joint letter to the Danish government that Muslims feel insulted by the newspaper. They urged the government to ask the newspaper for an apology.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen replied: “Freedom of expression is the very foundation of Danish democracy…(and) the Danish government has no means of influencing the press.”

Muslim leaders decided therefore to take the issue to the OIC conference due next month in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

“We have been informed by our foreign minister that this caricature affair will be on the agenda at a special summit of the Islamic Conference,” Mohab Nasr Mostafa Mahdy, Egyptian deputy ambassador in Denmark said in a statement.

“This is a collective initiative taken by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and Egypt played a leading role,” he said.

Disputes over the ‘caricature affair’ between Danish and Muslim leaders, especially from Turkey, go down to fundamental issues.

“When (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan comes to Copenhagen (the visit was on Nov. 15), I will ask him about this and explain to him what freedom of expression means,” Rasmussen said earlier.

Erdogan in turn told Rasmussen on his visit that “freedoms have limits, what is sacred should be respected.” He said respect for what is held sacred is more important than freedom of expression.

Erdogan pointed to the Jewish reaction against Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’ as an example. Muslims can have similar sensitivities, he said.

Erdogan also demanded that Rasmussen’s government shut down the television station Roj TV, which his government accuses of supporting the Kurdish Workers Party.

Roj TV has its main broadcasting facilities in Denmark. The Kurdish Workers Party has been declared by Turkey and also the European and North American governments to be a terrorist organisation.

Erdogan refused to attend a joint press conference with Rasmussen after discovering that a Roj TV reporter was present at the press briefing. Rasmussen refused to expel the Kurdish reporter from the press conference.

“We have been confronted with a number of things, where I simply cannot compromise,” Rasmussen said, referring both to the caricature affair and to the Roj TV reporter. “These are fundamental principles about how a democracy works.”

Muslim leaders have decided to stop participating in the ‘Arabic initiative to promote democracy’ proposed by the Danish government, according to some reports.

Egypt’s ambassador to Lebanon, Hussein Darrar, told media that his government had decided “not to continue its dialogue with Denmark on human rights and discrimination.” While the Danish ministry of foreign affairs declined to comment on Darrar’s announcement, the Egyptian government refused to confirm its decision to cut off the dialogue.

WAN says the refusal by the OIC to drop the issue from its December meeting is itself a threat against the Jyllands-Posten, and a violation of the freedom of the press.