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SA Sunday papers gagged
04/02/2006 13:49 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Sunday newspapers will not be allowed to publish a controversial cartoon of prophet Muhammad after a Muslim pressure group was granted a court interdict.
The SA National Editors Forum said on Saturday several South African media houses were gagged from publishing the cartoon on Friday night.
The Jamiat-ul Ulama of Transvaal, which sought an interdict against Johncom Media and Independent Newspapers among others, said the cartoon was "deeply offensive".
The organisation was granted the interdict at 10.30pm on Friday.
The Sunday Times, one of the Johncom newspapers who received a letter from the group asking if it would publish the cartoon, said at the time it had not decided on its action.
The paper's editor, Mondli Makhanya, told Sapa the Sunday Times refused to make an undertaking to the Jamiat-ul Ulama on the principle that it would not be dictated by outsiders on what to publish.
"We believe that if we were to have given an undertaking not to publish, we would invite similar demands and threats from anyone who felt offended by the stories we publish.
"No credible newspaper can be held to ransom by the beliefs of a section of a population.
"We are obliged to reflect the world that we live in - not just a part of it - for the benefit of all our readers. We must uphold the right to publish without fear or favour," Makhanya said.
Sanef chairman Joe Thloloe described the interdict as alarming.
He said Sanef believed the interdict amounted to pre-publication censorship.
The interdict "limits freedom of expression in that the decision on whether to publish or not to publish has been taken away from the editors and placed on the shoulders of the court".
"The editors of the publications that were gagged are aware of the law and the limitations the Constitution has placed on freedom of expression and would respect those.
"It is not for the courts to assume that the law is going to be broken and make the decision for editors," he said in a statement.
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