Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of satirical cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on September 30, 2005, led to violence, arrests, inter-governmental tension, and debate about the scope of free speech and the place of Muslims in the West. Many Muslims stressed that the image of Muhammad is blasphemous, while many Westerners defended the right of free speech. A number of governments, organizations, and individuals have issued statements defining their stance on the protests or cartoons.
Political reactions
International organisations : On February 13, 2006, Doudou Diène, United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance reported:
The secretary-general of the UN, Kofi Annan, asked the Western media to be more sensitive in its handling of religious themes and use of peaceful dialogue after being asked by the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Mussa.
(EU): José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, supported the Danish government and said that freedom of speech cannot be compromised: "It's better to publish too much than not to have freedom.."
On January 30, 2006, the European Union said that any retaliatory boycott of Danish goods would violate world trade rules.
On February 15, 2006, the European Parliament accepted a resolution which condemns all violence arising from the publication of the cartoons. It stated that the EU stands in solidarity with Denmark and all other countries that have been affected by the violence. It also stated that Muslims may be offended by the cartoons and that they have the right to protest peacefully, but that the freedom of speech is absolute and may not be affected by any form of censorship.
(OIC): The OIC member states held a meeting in Jeddah on February 14, 2006, to discuss the publication of the cartoons. The ambassadors felt that the reaction of the Danish authorities on the issue was "under par" compared to the reaction of other European states which condemned the publication of the cartoons and considered it as a provocation and an incitement to hatred. The member states approved a five-point plan which OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu had proposed to Javier Solana on February 7, 2006. The plan called for: the European Union to adopt legislative measures against Islamophobia; the OIC and the EU to work towards a UN Resolution on the lines of the existing UN Resolution 60/150 (Combating defamation of religions) which should prohibit defamation of all prophets and faiths; the European media to adopt a code of ethics; the United Nations to adopt an International Communication Media Order covering a definition of freedom of speech in case of religious symbols; the inclusion of a paragraph prohibiting blasphemy, defamation of religions and incitement to hatred in the text of the Human Rights Council resolution presently being negotiated.
On January 1, 2006, the OIC boycotted a project called "Images of the Middle East" which was to be organized by the Danish Center for Culture and Development and partially financed by the Danish government. The press release mentioned that the Third Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference addressed this issue and stressed "the responsibility of all governments to ensure full respect of all religions and religious symbols, stating that the freedom of expression does not justify in any way whatsoever the defamation of religions."
On January 28, 2006, Ihsanoglu called for "Muslims to stay calm and peaceful in the wake of sacrilegious depiction of Prophet Muhammad which has deeply hurt their feelings".
Nations : Bahrain's parliament demanded an apology from the government, as well as from Denmark's head of state, the Danish king, and was unaware that Denmark's head of state is Queen Margrethe II.
MPs called for an extraordinary session of parliament to discuss the cartoons, while protesters set Danish dairy products and bacon ablaze. Al-Menbar Islamic Society MP Mohammed Khaled has demanded that Arab leaders take action: "We are stunned by the silence of the Arab leaders. They don't tolerate any criticism against them, yet allow others to insult the Prophet."
: Foreign Minister Morshed Khan stated before parliament that a diplomatic protest was lodged with the government of Denmark on November 7, 2005. He also requested the Danish government issue an apology and urged them to prevent further occurrences of "such heinous acts". : On January 18, 2008, an editor of an independent newspaper who reproduced cartoons of Muhammad was jailed for three years. : On February 8, 2006, Muslims in Sarajevo organized a protest against the cartoons. They delivered a letter demanding an apology for the publication of the cartoons to staff at the Danish, Norwegian and French embassies. The flags of Norway, Denmark and Croatia were burnt. : Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper issued a statement on February 14, 2006, that said Canadians have the right to free speech as well as the right to voice their opinions about the free speech of others. He said that he "regretted" that several Canadian newspapers had chosen to run the cartoons after the controversy began. "While we understand this issue is divisive, our government wishes that people be respectful of the beliefs of others." Harper also commended the Canadian Muslim community for voicing its opinion peacefully, respectfully and democratically.
: After Iran sent a formal strong objection to the Czech government against the publication of the cartoons in MF DNES and Hospodářské noviny, the newspapers insisted that it was necessary for them to publish the pictures so that the readers get the full information. The Czech foreign minister, Cyril Svoboda, called the Muslim reaction "exaggerated" and advocated a united European stand on the issue. : In December 2005, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, the grand imam of Al-Azhar Mosque and grand sheikh of Al-Azhar University, issued a statement saying that "Al-Azhar intends to protest these anti-Prophet cartoons with the UN's concerned committees and human rights groups around the world."
A poll of 1,000 Egyptians in October 2006 revealed that Denmark's image as an enemy to the Egyptian people remained in place. 60% of those polled viewed that Denmark was hostile to Egypt.
: In February, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja said that Denmark should have acted earlier and paid more attention to Muslim outrage over the offensive caricatures. He added that the Danish government could apologise for the fact that religious feelings were offended, without endangering freedom of expression. The party of indigenous Finnish Muslims, the Finnish Islamic Party, said that it had issued a statement to the media that it condemns the republication of the caricatures and that "We also condemn the Danish government for not interfering in issues that causes confrontation between Islamic world and non-Islamic world. Reissuing the caricatures will cause widely spread agitation because things that Muslims hold sacred have been insulted. Therefore The Finnish Islamic Party exhorts to boikot Danish products everywhere."
Police opened investigations into the publication of the cartoons by the Suomen Sisu group. In Finland it is illegal to "disturb religious peace". This law is rarely prosecuted, which gave the incident nationwide attention. The cartoons have been published on numerous Finnish web sites but not in mainstream media. Police declined to comment which site or sites are being investigated, and said any media that publishes the cartoons will be similarly investigated.
On February 24, 2006, Kaltio, a culture magazine in northern Finland, got publicity for publishing a cartoon of a masked Muhammad which lampooned Finnish political elites' reactions during the cartoon debate.
: On February 6, 2006, the French prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, condemned the violence that had occurred internationally in response to the cartoons, but called for tolerance and respect toward other faiths.
The French foreign minister supported the right to free press, but added that it must be used "in a spirit of tolerance and with respect for beliefs and religions".
Nicolas Sarkozy, then interior minister and presidential candidate, said on LCI television that he "preferred an excess of caricature to an excess of censorship" and pointed out that it is, if necessary, up to the courts to judge whether caricatures go beyond what is reasonable to publish, and not to the governments of Muslim countries.
: Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while she understands that feelings were hurt by the caricatures, violent reactions were unacceptable. She stressed the central role of freedom of expression, and called for dialogue. "Denmark must not feel let alone in this issue". Merkel also said that she understands this to be the common position of the EU. : President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the Indonesian government condemned the publication of the caricatures. He said that "[t]he publication of the caricature of course reflects a lack of sensitivity to the views and belief of other religious adherents", but recommended to "religious people" that they "accept the apology". : Former Iranian president and theorist of Dialogue Among Civilizations, Mohammad Khatami, strongly criticized the Danish cartoons for "spreading hatred", but added that the Muslim world is not entirely blameless either:
There was a recommendation for the term for a Danish pastry to be changed to "Gole Mohammadi" (in Persian: Mohammadi Flower). Iran amended §224-1 of its penal code (prohibition of apostasy, magic and religious innovation, punishable by death, no evidence or witness testimony required - only "the judge's views and impressions") to also cover defamation of Muhammed.
: Shia cleric Ali al-Sistani condemned the cartoons but also commented about militants who discredit Islam by their acts. Sistani underlined how un-Islamic acts of extremism are used as justification to attack Islam. : Irish president Mary McAleese condemned the cartoons as designed to provoke, designed to be rude and designed to inflame. She also condemned the violent protests against the cartoons. : On February 14, Italy's Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli had T-shirts made emblazoned with cartoons of Muhammad in a move likely to embarrass Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government. Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, told Ansa news agency on Tuesday that the West had to stand up against Islamic extremists and offered to hand out T-shirts to anyone who wanted them. : The Lebanese minister of foreign affairs criticised the drawings saying that freedom of speech ends when sacred values are offended. : Libya recalled its ambassador and announced that it would close its embassy in Denmark. : Malaysian prime minister and chairman of Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said: "This is a deliberate act of provocation. They should cease and desist from doing so." : On February 7, the parliament of the Kano State in the Muslim north of the country cancelled a €23 million order for Danish buses and banned the sale of all Danish and Norwegian products. Legislators then burned the flags of both nations before a crowd decried the "blasphemous caricatures". There were fatalities during the clashes between rioters and police, with estimates ranging from 16 to more than 100. : Pakistan's ambassador urged the Danish prime minister to penalize the cartoonists. From February 14 to 15 protests occurred, the largest of which took place in Peshawar, where protesters numbered over 70,000.