'A conspiracy against Islam'

2006-02-02 11:29

Cairo - The Egyptian press chastised European newspapers on Thursday after a raft of leading dailies reproduced cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that have drawn worldwide Muslim ire and sparked a debate on freedom of expression.

"The international community should understand that any attack against our prophet will not go unpunished," wrote Samir Ragab, editor-in-chief of Al-Gomhurriya, one of Egypt's top three state-owned dailies.

"It is not a question of freedom of opinion or belief, it is a conspiracy against Islam and Muslims which has been in the works for years and if no serious measures are taken this campaign will gain momentum," he said.

The furore began last September in Denmark when the daily Jyllands-Posten ran a series of 12 cartoons, some of them depicting the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist.

Has led to a boycott of products

The caricatures were reprinted by a Norwegian magazine last month and the row snowballed over the past few days into a full-fledged diplomatic crisis that has led to a wide boycott of Danish and Norwegian products.

The Danish government has consistently rejected Arab and Muslim calls for an apology, arguing that it had no other option but to respect freedom of expression.

Leading newspapers in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland carried all or some of the 12 cartoons on Wednesday to express their support of freedom of expression.

Ragab argued that the wave of reproductions in the European papers was "evidence of a premeditated campaign masterminded after the September 11 attacks" against the United States.

The independent Nahdet Masr newspaper also condemned the resort by European governments and media to the principle of freedom of expression.

"The pretext used to justify the cartoons, including freedom of the press and freedom of expression, is another example of the double standards prevailing in the West," Saad Hagras wrote in the newspaper.

But the daily was one of few to warn against the Muslim world's own double standards in its criticism of other faiths.

"If we reject any attack against our religion, we should also not tolerate attacks against other religions," Hagras said. "We should never forget that some of our imams use mosque pulpits to insult the worshippers of other faiths."

"If Israel occupies our territories and oppresses our people, this should lead us to condemn Zionism but not to express animosity towards Judaism," he said.

Arab newspapers have frequently been criticised for carrying anti-Semitic opinions and cartoons.

- AFP