Muslim envoys to Denmark protest against cartoons

21 Oct, 2005

The ambassadors of Muslim countries to Denmark have protested against 12 newspaper caricatures of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) in a letter to Denmark's prime minister, his office said on Thursday.
An Islamic group also threatened to carry out attacks in the Scandinavian country over the affair, media reported.
The 12 drawings by two cartoonists, which appeared in Denmark's largest circulation daily Jyllands-Posten on September 30, have drawn criticism from across the Muslim community in Denmark, with religious leaders insisting they are an insult to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) and calling for an official apology.
In a letter to Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, diplomats from Arab countries and Pakistan, Iran, Bosnia Hercegovina and Indonesia said they were offended by the caricatures and demanded an official apology from the newspaper, the prime minister's office said.
They requested a meeting with Rasmussen, who is also in-charge of media affairs, to express their concern about what they perceive as anti-Muslim and anti-Islam campaigns in the press and certain far-right political circles.
Last week, as many as 5,000 Muslims demonstrated in Copenhagen against the paper and the drawings, which depicted the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) in different settings. In one of the drawings, he appeared with a turban shaped like a bomb strapped to his head.
Meanwhile, an Islamic group calling itself Glory Brigades in Northern Europe issued threats against Jyllands-Posten and Denmark on the Web site www.internet-haganah.us, Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported in its online edition.

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