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Muslims boycott Denmark over offensive cartoons
Denmark is in the firing line of the Muslim world due to cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad being published in a newspaper.
Denmark is in the firing line of the Muslim world due to cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad being published in a newspaper.
Street demonstrations were held and flags were burnt in the Middle East. Libya joined Saudi Arabia in withdrawing its ambassador from Copenhagen. Islamic governments and organisations, including the Muslim Council of Britain, issued denunciations and a boycott of Danish goods took hold across the Muslim world.
The Danish Government warned its citizens about travelling to Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, and withdrew aid workers from the Gaza Strip. On Monday EU foreign ministers issued a statement in support of Denmark and the European Commission threatened to report any government backing the boycott to the World Trade Organisation.
The clash occurred after the publication by the Danish newspaper Jyllends-Posten on September 30 of 12 cartoons of Muhammad. A biographer of the prophet had complained that no one would dare to illustrate his book and the newspaper challenged cartoonists to draw pictures of the prophet in a self-declared battle for freedom of speech.
One showed Mohammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban; in another he tells dead suicide bombers that he has run out of virgins with which to reward them. Any portrayal of Muhammad is blasphemous in Islam, lest it encourages idolatry.
In October ambassadors from ten Muslim countries complained to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, who refused to interfere with the press's freedom. The issue intensified this month after the cartoons appeared in Magazinet, a Christian newspaper in Norway, and on the website of the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.
Imams denounced Denmark. The Saudi Government recalled its ambassador, but still Rasmussen refused to apologise. He condemned attempts to "demonise people because of religious beliefs", but argued: "The Government can in no way influence the media."
Libya has closed its embassy in Denmark and the Egyptian parliament demanded that its Government follow suit. The Kuwaiti and Jordanian governments called for explanations from their Danish ambassadors. President Lahoud of Lebanon condemned the cartoons, saying his country "cannot accept any insult to any religion".
The Justice Minister of the United Arab Emirates said: "This is cultural terrorism, not freedom of expression." In Gaza, gunmen briefly occupied the EU office in Gaza and warned Danes and Norwegians to stay away. Palestinians in the West Bank burnt Danish flags.
The Islamic groups Hamas and Hezbollah and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood demanded an apology.
Supermarkets in Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen all removed Danish produce from their shelves. Arla Foods, a Danish company with annual sales of about $430 million in the Middle East, said that the boycott was almost total and suspended production in Saudi Arabia.
The Muslim Council of Britain, whose leaders are to meet the Danish ambassador tomorrow, deplored the newspapers' refusal to apologise for printing "sacrilegious cartoons vilifying the Prophet Muhammad".
Per Stig Moeller, Denmark's Foreign Minister, insisted in Brussels last night: "We condemn blasphemy. We want respect for religions. But we cannot intervene. We have sent explanations but, as we have said before, freedom of expression is a matter for the courts, not for the Government."
A spokesman for Peter Mandelson, the EU Trade Commissioner, said that if the Saudi Government had encouraged the boycott of Danish goods, Mandelson would take the matter to the WTO.
Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief of Jyllends-Posten, which has hired extra security after staff received death threats, said that the drawings "were not in violation of Danish law but have offended many Muslims, which we would like to apologise for". He added that the drawings were "sober and were not meant to be offensive" to Muslims.
