By NNN-Bernama
Jakarta : Hundreds of people rallied outside the Danish and Dutch embassies here Wednesday to protest against the recent publication of cartoon images of Prophet Muhammad by newspapers in the two European countries.
“We heard they have reprinted the cartoons to defend the freedom of speech while in fact they have thereby clearly and seriously insulted the Prophet Muhammad and Islam, and this has happened several times,” Antara news agency quoted a spokesman of Muslim organisation ‘Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI),Muhammad Ismail Yanto, as saying.
At least 11 print media and televisions in Denmark republished or rescreened cartoon drawings of the Prophet, which originally appeared in Danish newspaper Jylland-Posten on Sept 30, 2005. They did so following a claim by the Danish intelligence service (PET) that it had foiled a plot to kill Kurt Westergaard, the maker of the Prophet Mohammad cartoons.
Apart from the Danish media, at least three newspapers in Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain also reprinted the cartoons.
Ismail said acts to defame Islam had been committed more than once in the past, among others, in the form of a book like “The Satanic Verses (1989) by Salman Rushdi, and a film like “Submission” (2004) by Dutchman Theo van Gogh.
Therefore, he said, his organisation demanded that those responsible for the defamation be given the death penalty and called on members of the Muslim community to defend the honour of the Prophet Mohammad and condemn all forms of insults against Islam.
The cartoons controversy began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on September 30 2005.
The newspaper announced that the publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.
Danish Muslim organisations, who objected to the depictions, responded by holding public protests attempting to raise awareness of Jyllands-Posten’s publication.
The controversy deepened when the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers in more than fifty other countries.