PM urges Muslims to go to court
PM urges Muslims to go to courtPrime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen rejected on Friday Muslim ambassadors' request that he get personally involved to tone down the current debate about Muslims. Ambassadors from eleven Muslim countries sent a letter to Rasmussen on Wednesday, requesting that he step in to stop 'the current smear campaign being carried out by the public and the media against Islam and Muslims'. On Friday, Fogh rejected their call, saying that 'freedom of expression is the very foundation of Denmark's democratic tradition'. 'Freedom of expression has wide boundaries, and the Danish government has no means to influence the press,' said Rasmussen in his reply. 'Danish laws do forbid blasphemous statements or discriminating acts, and the offended party can bring such statements or acts before the court.' Despite refusing to steer the tone of the debate, Rasmussen agreed with the ambassadors' opinion that dialogue between cultures and religions should be based on mutual respect and understanding.
The ambassadors' request comes after heated debate over newspaper Jyllands-Posten's decision to run drawings of the prophet Mohammed, which is frowned upon by Islam. In addition, some of the drawings depicted Mohammed in a negative light, which only added to Muslims' ire. The ambassadors said, however, that the cartoon incident was just the latest of a number of unfortunate critiques of Islam, including critical comments by the Minister of Culture, a Copenhagen City Council candidate, as well as a local radio station that had been found guilty of broadcasting racist programming. 'We distance ourselves from these statements and publications, and we request that you prosecute those responsible as a way to create religious harmony, better integration, and improve Denmark's relations with the Muslim world in general,' the ambassadors said in their letter.
Immigrants protest against Muslim cartoon threats
A group of immigrants in Denmark have signed a protest against threats sent to employees of newspaper Jyllands-Posten after the paper published cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. "It is important for us to stress that those Muslims who make such threats are not representative of all immigrants in Denmark, "said one of the protesters. The protest also criticises the 11 Muslim countries which sent an official letter of complaint to the Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, about the cartoons. Even the OIC, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, which has 57 member countries, has now complained to the Prime Minister about the Danish Islamic debate.
posted by Unknown @ 12:54 PM
3 Comments:
Does anyone know the identity of the group of immmigrants who have protested against the Muslim threats against the newspaper? Are they non-Muslims by chance?
Immigrants protest against Muslim cartoon threats
Are these immigrants Muslims? If so, this would be a hopeful sign--if you take this at face value. Since 9/11, it seems that the "moderate" Muslim has not been heard from very often. It does beg the question as to why not. If the majority of Muslims worldwide do not support (or at least sympathize with) the radicalization of Islam, why is it that's all we see?
Good editors op. at www.berlingske.com/leder (in Danish). I doubt the Turkish ambassador will ever answer!
Post a Comment
<< Home