Foreign Ministry condemns caricatures in Danish and Norwegian newspapers [Archives:2006/916/Local News]
SANA'A, Jan. 27 ) Yemen's Foreign Ministry condemned the continued publication of 12 blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by Danish newspaper Jylland Posten and Norwegian newspaper Magazinet.
A ministry spokesperson stated that it considers the sacrilegious caricatures a deliberate insult to Islam's Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and hurt the feelings of 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide. The spokesperson said the cartoons attempt to distort divine religions and prophets and lead to hatred and violence. Such attempts lead to increased conflicts between civilizations and cultures and cause a lack of security and peace in the world. He demanded the Danish and Norwegian governments stop such sacrilegious acts and apologize instantly.
In an official statement, the ministry called on the international community to criticize such acts and take necessary procedures ensuring they will not be repeated in the future. The immoral drawings and the Danish newspaper's actions conflict with the values and principles of all divine religions. They violate international rights forbidding reviling other religions and creeds. The statement emphasized rights to freely express, believe and publish according to universal norms and values, but said what the two newspapers published in the cartoons was considered a violation of those rights.
The Danish newspaper claimed it published the caricatures to test whether Muslim fundamentalists had begun affecting freedom of expression in Denmark. However, many Arabs and Muslims considers such claim as a weak justification of the disrespectful cartoons and the deliberate insults on the prophet personality. The cartoons portray the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as a terrorist with a bomb over his turban, carrying a dagger, fond of women, a most-wanted criminal, etc.
As a result of continued publishing of the controversial caricatures, many Muslim countries, organizations and societies call for boycotting Danish goods causing Danish companies to lose their Muslim world markets and billions of dollars.
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