From the Independent

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article342412.ece

Mohamed cartoons provoke bomb threats against Danish newspaper
By Stephen Castle
Published: 01 February 2006

A Danish newspaper suffered bomb scares a day after apologising for cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed which prompted protests from Muslims and a boycott of Danish products in a dozen nations.

The offices of Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen and Arhus were evacuated as the storm continued over its publication last September of a series of 12 satirical cartoons regarded by many Muslims as blasphemous.

In Gaza, demonstrators burnt Danish flags, chanting "War on Denmark, Death to Denmark" while a boycott of Danish goods spread from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to states throughout the Middle East and north Africa. Saudi Arabia has already recalled its ambassador from Copenhagen and Libya has closed its embassy. Sudan is the latest nation to join the boycott of Danish goods which has forced the Danish-based dairy Arla Foods to close its plant in Riyadh. The EU has intervened, warning Saudi Arabia that, if it encourages the boycott, it will be in breach of its obligations in the World Trade Organisation.

The cartoons included one that showed Mohamed wearing a bomb in place of a turban. Any visual depiction of the Prophet is considered to be blasphemy, according to the teachings of Islam.

Stunned by the scale of the reaction, the newspaper - which received 9,000 e-mails on the subject in one day - moved to defuse the row with an appeal published on its website. Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief, said in the open letter, which was also published in Arabic: "In our opinion, the 12 drawings were sober. They were not intended to be offensive, nor were they at variance with Danish law, but they have indisputably offended many Muslims for which we apologise."

Under the headline "Honourable Citizens of the Muslim World", the editor defended the publication, arguing: "The initiative was taken as part of an ongoing public debate on freedom of expression, a freedom much cherished in Denmark." The apology, which has prompted a fierce debate over freedom of expression, was welcomed by the Danish premier, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He said: "I'm extremely happy that Jyllands-Posten has decided to take this very difficult step. I would now like to appeal to Muslim groups in Denmark to speak out and defuse the situation after Jyllands-Posten's apology."

Peder Tuborgh, chief executive of Arla, said the row had taken on a life of its own, causing a complete collapse of sales. "'I would ask the government to immediately enter a positive dialogue with the many millions of Muslims who feel offended by Denmark. I'm not sure if we have been quick enough at home to understand the scope of this."

Arla is one of the largest dairy producers in the world, with more than 800 staff in Saudi Arabia. The Danish Foreign Ministry advised against non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia and urged Danes to be cautious in other Muslim countries. "Danes who choose to stay in Saudi Arabia should show extraordinarily high watchfulness," it said.

The cartoons were reprinted by Magazinet, a Norwegian Christian newspaper, whose editor, Vebjorn Selbekk, also said he "regrets if the drawings were offensive to Muslims".

A Danish newspaper suffered bomb scares a day after apologising for cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed which prompted protests from Muslims and a boycott of Danish products in a dozen nations.

The offices of Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen and Arhus were evacuated as the storm continued over its publication last September of a series of 12 satirical cartoons regarded by many Muslims as blasphemous.

In Gaza, demonstrators burnt Danish flags, chanting "War on Denmark, Death to Denmark" while a boycott of Danish goods spread from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to states throughout the Middle East and north Africa. Saudi Arabia has already recalled its ambassador from Copenhagen and Libya has closed its embassy. Sudan is the latest nation to join the boycott of Danish goods which has forced the Danish-based dairy Arla Foods to close its plant in Riyadh. The EU has intervened, warning Saudi Arabia that, if it encourages the boycott, it will be in breach of its obligations in the World Trade Organisation.

The cartoons included one that showed Mohamed wearing a bomb in place of a turban. Any visual depiction of the Prophet is considered to be blasphemy, according to the teachings of Islam.

Stunned by the scale of the reaction, the newspaper - which received 9,000 e-mails on the subject in one day - moved to defuse the row with an appeal published on its website. Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief, said in the open letter, which was also published in Arabic: "In our opinion, the 12 drawings were sober. They were not intended to be offensive, nor were they at variance with Danish law, but they have indisputably offended many Muslims for which we apologise."

Under the headline "Honourable Citizens of the Muslim World", the editor defended the publication, arguing: "The initiative was taken as part of an ongoing public debate on freedom of expression, a freedom much cherished in Denmark." The apology, which has prompted a fierce debate over freedom of expression, was welcomed by the Danish premier, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He said: "I'm extremely happy that Jyllands-Posten has decided to take this very difficult step. I would now like to appeal to Muslim groups in Denmark to speak out and defuse the situation after Jyllands-Posten's apology."

Peder Tuborgh, chief executive of Arla, said the row had taken on a life of its own, causing a complete collapse of sales. "'I would ask the government to immediately enter a positive dialogue with the many millions of Muslims who feel offended by Denmark. I'm not sure if we have been quick enough at home to understand the scope of this."

Arla is one of the largest dairy producers in the world, with more than 800 staff in Saudi Arabia. The Danish Foreign Ministry advised against non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia and urged Danes to be cautious in other Muslim countries. "Danes who choose to stay in Saudi Arabia should show extraordinarily high watchfulness," it said.

The cartoons were reprinted by Magazinet, a Norwegian Christian newspaper, whose editor, Vebjorn Selbekk, also said he "regrets if the drawings were offensive to Muslims".

A slight overreaction?

Marginally moreso than freedom fries.

Don't even get me started.

i could never protest eating a danish

oh well...some dark humor should help the muslim nations to open their eyes. If they see that the western civilization thinks that they are stupid people, maybe they will want to prove the oposite.

The Muslim community is so awesome.

Someone makes a cartoon about them and they threaten to blow people up and declare war on them.

Bunch of immature, selfish fucks. That shit just pisses me off. When are they going to grow up to the level of the rest of the civilized world?

Can we at least SEE these cartoons in this thread please?

The thing that no one seems to be mentioning in this whole debate is that the cartoons were weak. Offering nothing intelligent or insightful. Sure the paper has the right to print them but they shouldn't have because they are lame. The people who are getting offended by them should have dismissed them on the grounds that they were weak.

There is alot of press hype here and is important to put things in perspective. It is a pretty small incident but it is getting blown up into some clash of ideologies which further polarizes people who have alot of things in common.

If you call it "dark humor", sure. I've seen the actual cartoons, and I'd call them puerile trash meant to blackball anyone of Arabic origin sooner than I'd call them "dark humor". They also fail as satire because they preach to an already bigoted and Islamophobic choir.

But they are not even that important - they were published months ago and likely wouldn't have been able to stir up as much as they did, had it not been for the Danish prime minister's outright refusal to receive ambassadors from 11 Arabic countries who wished to debate not the cartoons but Denmark's attitudes toward immigrants of Arabic descent. (The EU, too, has strongly criticised Denmark about those.) Given these circumstances, Jyllands-Posten and Prime Minister Rasmussen have been everything except tactful about this.

There's more that ties into it than just the cartoons, in other words. They are just a symptom.

Thanks for the link. There were maybe two of those cartoons that were even remotely clever or funny (unless I missed a real knee-slapper in Danish).

With similiar things in America, some rather extreme christians would respond in kind, however the difference is that majority christian states wouldn't take diplomatic actions. That is what I feel is silly about this whole thing: entire countries taking offense. Good luck forming a democracy with that kind of attitude, Saudi Arabia.

Democracy has nothing to do with being easily offended. Americans wouldn't want democracy in Saudi Arabia anyway. Not in your national interests.

This is big talk here in Djibouti right now. I didn't read about it until today, but some of my friends on base and out in town informed me about this and tried to explain the situation.

Basically what it boils down to, in regards to Islam, is respect for the prophets. My friends here, in Djibouti, explained it to me as "We would never say bad things like that about your prophet Jesus, why do people say things like that about Mohamad?"

Here it is more confusion than anything. I guess respect means more to them than freedom of press does.

And how does the Arab world have any right to criticize European immigration policies when a European woman can't travel through Mecca without being covered from head to toe just like an Arab woman?

you may call yourself a tolerant person and don't associate every muslim with terrorism and all the mumbo jumbo but the reality is that most muslims are intolerant, close-minded and are prepared to do any kind of bullshit when it comes to their religion.

Based on what? Muslims you've met? Muslims you've seen on 24? Books you've read? I've never seen any evidence that more than a very tiny percentage of muslims behave as you describe.

This is interesting.

I don't agree with the sentiments of the cartoons (sorry I didn't post them but I didn't know if it qualified as objectionable material). I do, however, very strongly defend the right of any publication to print them, and I think that threatening a boycott of a country because they mock your Prophet is a bit much in the 21st Century. I do think that attitudes towards Islam in much of Europe need to be examined, but there is cause for concern within the religion itself. After all, the Koran is the book that has these gems:

"Allah will tear Christians apart for ascribing partners to him."

"Allah will taunt the Christians in hell, saying: Where are all my partners that you used to believe in?"

"Allah cast fear into the hearts of the disbelieving People of the Scripture. Their home in the Hereafter will be the Fire."

I'm not Christian, per se, so I might be able to avoid a fiery Islamic hell.

Anyway, back to the topic - Is the Islamic reaction an overreaction?

What Muslims are you basing this tiny percentage on? Ones that live in America? I think that might be a little bit different, just maybe.

From my experiences, The Crimson King is right about them being prepared to do anything when it comes to their religion. Feel free to ask me what that is based on, if you wish.

I think a better question would be: Is any Islamic reaction not an overreaction?

Ok ... what are you basing that on?