JEDDAH — The secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) yesterday expressed regret that Danish newspapers had again printed insulting caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the wake of an alleged murder plot by Muslim extremists against one of the cartoonists.
Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged Muslims to use legal and peaceful means to protest the outrage. He said that he wished the Danish media would have chosen another subject as a test case to reassert the freedom of speech instead of supporting a blatant act of incitement to hatred in a most unfortunate and senseless manner, noting that the newspapers were aware that this act would offend not only Danish Muslims but the world’s other 1.3 billion Muslims who have nothing to do with the alleged three-man terror plot.
More than a dozen papers in Denmark last week reprinted what was unarguably the most controversial of the 12 cartoons that enraged Muslims in early 2006 when they appeared in Western newspapers. The drawing, by cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, depicts the Prophet in the most offensive manner. The Danish papers said they wanted to show their firm commitment to freedom of speech after Tuesday’s arrests of two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin accused of plotting to kill the cartoonist.
Ihsanoglu said the OIC General Secretariat would not hesitate to condemn the plotters in the strongest possible terms if their crime is established by the proper judicial Danish authorities.
Although these individuals represent neither the Danish Muslims nor the Muslim world, Ihsanoglu said it was unfortunate that the irresponsible and condemnable behavior of a few individuals could be used in a modern European country as an excuse for conducting a new campaign of hatred against Muslims by insulting their belief and their most sacred spiritual values and symbols, and that such behavior could be condoned by so many.
He said it was unacceptable that Islam and Muslims were represented as enemies of free speech. Ihsanoglu reiterated that Muslims have no problem with the freedom of speech as a fundamental human right but expect a minimal level of respect and responsibility in the exercise of this right.
He condemned and opposed all death threats, incitements to violence and violent manifestations of disapproval stemming from some individuals and called on Muslim Danish citizens and Muslims living in Denmark to make known their views through the peaceful and democratic means available in their host county.
The OIC secretary-general said that it was regrettable that the issue had re-emerged at a time when the international community was trying to promote values of mutual respect, tolerance and peaceful existence among people of different cultures and faiths in order to heal the wounds of the previous unfortunate events.
Ihsanoglu said the Muslim world awaited a stand by Danish authorities against acts of intolerance and incitement to hatred as expressed in the 1996 International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, which states “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.”
