Miss World organisers to carry on with pageant

‘‘We can only appeal to the conscience of the organizers, but the best thing to do after such fratricide and bloodletting is to cancel the whole competition,’’ Labor party lawmaker Glenda Jackson was quoted as saying by The Times newspaper.

Morley said the contest had been used as a ‘‘political football’’ and blamed the violence on a Nigerian newspaper article that suggested Islam’s founding prophet would have approved of the pageant.

‘‘It was not a mistake to hold it in Nigeria. What was a mistake was a journalist making a remark he shouldn’t have made,’’ Morley said at a hotel near Heathrow airport. She said: ‘‘I think everyone does if they are holding something on a worldwide scale. But if you are asking me ‘did we do it?’ The answer is no, we didn’t. It isn’t the fault of the girls or any of us.’’

Meanwhile, the South Korean contestant for this year’s Miss World Beauty pageant today said she withdrew from the contest, marred by religious violence that left more than 220 people dead in Nigeria. Jang yu-Kyong, 19, was to represent South Korea in the contest, which was initially scheduled for December 7. Organisers changed the venue to London following deadly riots.

‘‘I have decided to withdraw from the London contest because I could not participate with a smiling face after witnessing a crisis that left hundreds dead,’’ Jang said.

Meanwhile, a state in Nigeria has decreed an Islamic Fatwa death sentence on the author of a newspaper story on the Miss World pageant that sparked riots in which over 200 people were killed, an official said on Tuesday. The author of the article is said to have fled from Nigeria.

‘‘What we are saying is that the Holy Koran has clearly stated that whoever insults the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad, should be killed,’’ Zamfara State Commissioner for Information Umar angaladima Magaji said.