By DPA
Amman : Jordan’s trade unions Friday urged the government to sever economic ties with Denmark in retaliation for reprinting of cartoons deemed blasphemous to Prophet Mohammed by Danish newspapers.
In a letter to Prime Minister Nader Dahabi, chairman of the trade unions’ council Saleh Armouti also called on the government to “summon the Danish ambassador and relay to him a strongly-worded protest that reflects our absolute rejection of such offences”.
Armouti contended that the pictures, which were reprinted by several leading Danish newspapers last week, represented “an unprecedented defiance of the feelings of Arabs and Muslims”.
He described as “ugly lies” the pretext of freedom of expression, which was cited by the Danish papers for reprinting the caricatures that were originally published by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten two years ago. The cartoons sparked violent protests in the Muslim world.
The papers said that they wanted to show their firm commitment to freedom of expression after the arrest of two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin who are accused of plotting to kill the Danish cartoonist.