Cartoons offend SA Muslims
04/02/2006 08:07  - (SA)  

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Johannesburg - The Council of Muslim Theologians was "deeply offended" by caricatures of the prophet Muhammad depicting him as a terrorist and which were published in European newspapers.

"The publication of these cartoons demonstrates contempt for the religious beliefs of the Muslim community," said the council's secretary general Mufti Zubair Bayat on Friday.

A Danish newspaper was the first to publish the 12 cartoons in September. One of them depicts the prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

Several other European newspapers published the drawings this week in a show of press freedom. On Wednesday, the Egyptian owner of the France Soir daily fired the editor after the paper republished all the cartoons.

Two right-wing Italian newspapers on Friday published the 12 caricatures.

Muslims have responded by boycotting Danish products in supermarkets. Palestinian gunmen on Thursday surrounded the European Union's offices in the Gaza Strip, demanding an apology.

"What was the intention of these publications... when it is a well-known fact that he was a paragon of peace, mercy, tolerance and forgiveness?" said Bayat.

"The Muslim community views the publications of such offensive material as a serious attack on the integrity of their religion, and as an attack on the global Muslim community."

The council called on Muslims to respect law and order in their protests against the cartoons.

- SAPA

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