Jail for cartoon editors

2006-05-30 22:52

Amman - A Jordanian court has imposed jail sentences on two newspaper editors for "attacking religious sentiment" by reprinting cartoons deemed offensive to Prophet Muhammad, their lawyer said.

Jihad Momani, former editor of the weekly Shihane tabloid, and Hisham al-Khalidi, editor-in-chief of the tabloid al-Mehwar, "were each sentenced to two months in prison", attorney Mohammed Kteishat told AFP.

Kteishat said he would appeal the sentence.

The defendants have been on bail since their arrest in February for printing the drawings, first published in September by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.

The cartoons were subsequently re-published by numerous mainly European papers, triggering the fury of Muslims around the world, sparking often violent protests and triggering a boycott of Danish goods in several Muslim countries.

Momeni and Khalidi both pleaded not guilty.

Their arrests have been condemned by international press watchdogs, who say journalists should not be jailed for what they publish.

Early in February, King Abdullah II said insulting the prophet was "an unjustifiable crime ... that could not be justified on the pretext of freedom of expression".

- AFP