AMMAN, 26 February 2008 — At least 21 Jordanian daily newspapers, weeklies and other media said yesterday that they had decided to carry a unified text tomorrow that responds to the recent reprinting of blasphemous cartoons. “The unified text is designed to carry a media message of a professional and objective nature as part of an expanded media campaign,” the papers said in a statement.
“It also has the aim of driving the idea home that the reprinting of the sacrilegious pictures by 17 Danish newspapers at the same time represents a flagrant, systematic and well-studied offense to Islam and the Prophet (peace be upon him) and has nothing to do with the freedom of expression,” they added.
The statement urged all other media and the journalists’ syndicate to join this campaign to turn Wednesday into an “historic day” in Jordan which it said performed a “pioneering role in defending Islam and Prophet Mohammed,” a reference to King Abdallah who belongs to Hashemite clan. The statement also appealed to all Arab and Islamic media to follow suit.
The move by the Jordanian press represented an escalation in the reaction to the reprinting of the caricatures 10 days ago by a dozen Danish newspapers which said they wanted to show their firm commitment to the freedom of expression following reports of an attempt on the life of cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. The pictures first appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten two years ago.
Scores of Jordanians staged an angry demonstration outside the Danish Embassy yesterday, demanding that their government cut ties with Denmark. “We don’t want to see a Danish Embassy on Jordanian soil,” shouted the protesters in the Jordanian capital, men and veiled women affiliated with the Islamic Action Front, Jordan’s largest opposition group. They also told the Jordanian government to “dismiss the Danish ambassador” and insulted him and his government while they burned the Danish flag.
The embassy was open for business, but no embassy personnel could be seen at the windows of the four-story white limestone building, which sported the Danish flag on the roof. Jordan is unlikely to heed the call since it maintains cordial ties with the European Union nation. But in 2006, when the controversy over the cartoons first erupted, Jordan demanded an official explanation from Denmark and allowed merchants to remove popular Danish dairy products from the shelves.
On Sunday, Sudanese President Omar Bashir threatened to expel Danish organizations and boycott the country’s products in reaction to the cartoons.
