Cartoon conflict

8226; Libya, Syria recall their ambassadors to Denmark. Leaders of various Islamic countries speak out against the cartoons. Afghan Preside...

8226; Libya, Syria recall their ambassadors to Denmark. Leaders of various Islamic countries speak out against the cartoons. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says, 8220;Any insult to the Holy Prophet8212;Peace Be Upon Him8212;is an insult to more than a billion Muslims.8217;8217; Presidents Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran issue statements of condemnation, as does King Abdullah of Jordan.

8226; Protests, mainly against Denmark, in Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Iraq, Yemen, Turkey. Palestine gunmen storm European Union office in Gaza. Muslims in West Asia begin boycott of Danish products.

8226; In Paris, the France Soir tabloid fires its managing editor for reprinting the caricatures on February 1. Jihad al-Momani, chief editor of Shihan, also sacked.

Religion vs expression

The issue now pits freedom of expression against religious sensibilities. 8220;We must defend freedom of expression,8217;8217; says French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen says, 8220;We are talking about an issue with fundamental significance to how democracies work.8217;8217; Le Monde, the influential French daily, publishes an editorial on February 2 asserting that French law permits religions to be 8220;freely analysed, criticised and even subjected to ridicule.8217;8217;

8226; On the other side, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says the press must respect religion. Najam Sethi, editor of Pakistan8217;s Daily Times and Friday Times, says talk of freedom of expression betrays double standards by West. He says, 8220;People who question some of the facts of the Holocaust are ostracised; most publishers are so sensitive they won8217;t even get into the argument. A degree of censorship is imposed that is not articulated in this case.8217;8217;

8226; Political analysts from both sides describe the printing of the cartoons as a dangerous incitement in a conflict that has already alienated the growing Muslim populations of West European nations and hardened extremists in both camps across the globe. 8220;This is the sort of thing that will feed into Al-Qaeda, alienating and angering a lot of educated young people,8221; says Sethi. 8212; Agencies

September 30, 2005: Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishes the cartoons. The newspaper8217;s editors had asked 12 artists to draw their depictions of Muhammad after an author had complained that he could not find an artist willing, under his or her own name, to illustrate a book about the prophet. Muslims, who believe any depiction of God and the prophets is blasphemy, are outraged at drawings of Prophet Muhammad with a bomb as a turban, among others

Story continues below this ad

October 20: Ambassador of Muslim countries meet Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to register their protest

January 26, 2006: Saudi Arabia recalls envoy from Denmark

January 31: Editors of Jyllands-Posten say they are sorry if anyone was offended, but defend the publication of the images.

February 1 on: The caricatures, some reprints, some new, start appearing in newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, the Netherlands, and even Jordan. BBC and ITV also air the cartoons. Prominent papers that reprint cartoons8212;France Noir and Liberation, Jordan8217;s Shihan, Italy8217;s Libero, Spain8217;s El Pais, Bulgaria8217;s Novinar