Upon reflection , I did see one good thing that has seemed to evolve in this latest episode , that at least theres not been the usual whacho Imam or Mullah putting some fatwah of death on the journalists who created and published the cartoons <g>
Ummm... they have now.
Taliban offer gold reward for killing Danish cartoonists
By Ken Herman in Washington
February 10, 2006
THE US President, George Bush, urged world governments to do all they could to stop the spreading violence over the cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad when he spoke on the issue for the first time.
The Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, also speaking on Wednesday, accused Iran and Syria of using the cartoons to incite violence. Dr Rice said she had no doubts that "Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiment and to use this to their own purposes, and the world ought to call them on it".
Their comments came as a Taliban commander said the Taliban would give 100 kilograms of gold to anyone who killed the person responsible for "blasphemous" cartoons in Denmark, Afghan Islamic Press reported on Wednesday. The offer came after police in Afghanistan fired into a crowd of protesters, killing three, as they marched on a US base in Qalat City.
Mr Bush said that while the US believes in a free press, "we also recognise that with freedom comes responsibilities".
Several Islamic leaders have joined the call for an end to the violence. "Islam says it's all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop," said Mohammed Usman, one of Afghanistan's senior clerics.
The violence and rioting, including the destruction of embassies, are in response to European cartoons depicting Muhammad, including one in which he was shown wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Islamic law forbids any form of illustration of the religion's prophet.
Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's chief military commander, also said the group would give five kilograms of gold to anyone who killed any military personnel from Denmark, Norway or Germany in Afghanistan. He said the list of Taliban suicide attackers in Afghanistan had increased significantly after publication of the cartoons.
One of the 12 Danish cartoonists who drew the caricatures has told a German newspaper he now faces at least two death threats, saying all 12 cartoonists were under police protection.
In Copenhagen, Jyllands-Posten's senior editor said the Danish daily would not reprint Holocaust cartoons being solicited by an Iranian newspaper, contradicting earlier statements that the pictures would be considered.
A former Jyllands-Posten editor, Jens Kaiser, also admitted the paper had previously rejected cartoons of Jesus, but said it was because they were of poor quality.
A mass demonstration of 100,000 Muslims will take place in London this weekend.
The Muslim Action Committee, an umbrella group that claims to represent more than 1 million Muslims, said it hoped to prevent a repeat of last week's ugly scenes when protesters carried placards issuing death threats and one man dressed as a suicide bomber. But they said they needed to "channel" growing anger felt across Britain that Muslims were being persecuted and made to feel like "second-class citizens".
smh.com.au
That demonstration in London included threats to repeat the attacks against London's public transit on 7/7/2005.
More:
news.independent.co.uk
denmark.dk
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Mosque reports Wilders to police over cartoons
8 February 2006
AMSTERDAM — The management of El Tawheed mosque in Amsterdam has reported Independent conservative MP Geert Wilders to the police on Tuesday for alleged blasphemy for publishing the cartoons of Mohammed on his website.
"The board of the [mosque] foundation is very aggrieved, offended and insulted," El Tawheed's lawyer Ad Westendorp said.
"Due to the shocking events in the Middle East in reaction to the publication of the caricatures, Wilders knew what this would stir up among Muslims," Westendorp said.
The board indicated it was concerned about the situation in the Netherlands. El Tawheed, the lawyer said, felt the publication of the cartoons by Wilders was not
in the interest of Dutch society.
"Fortunately it is peaceful here. The management feels, therefore, that Wilders wants to use the publication of the caricatures as a vehicle to bring about a change in this," Westendorp said. "The board does not think this is prudent."
On Sunday pro-Israel group CIDI reported the Dutch branch of the Arab European League (AEL) to the authorities for publishing two cartoons on its site. One showed Adolf Hitler in bed with Holocaust victim Anne Frank, and the other featured a person doubting the Holocaust actually happened.
CIDI said it understood that Muslims felt offended by the Mohammed cartoons, but it was wrong to hit back by singling out Jews and ridiculing the memory of the Holocaust.
The cartoons were removed from the AEL website by Monday morning.
Wilders, who went into hiding following the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November 2004, received 40 death threats by email within two days of placing the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed on his website.
He said death threats were not new to him but he was shocked by the number he had received over this issue.
El Tawheed has also been in the news in recent years. The Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) launched an investigation into the mosque in 2004 for selling two books that allegedly incited hatred and the oppression of women.
The government even discussed how it could deal with the mosque for allegedly preaching hatred against Western society.
expatica.com |
