Top Editor Fired After French Paper Reprints Danish Mohammed Cartoons (France Cowers Again)

PARIS, Feb 1, 2006 (AFP) - The owner of French newspaper France Soir on Wednesday dismissed the publication's managing editor after the paper reproduced a set of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first published in Denmark that have created an uproar in the Muslim world.

France-Soir owner Raymond Lakah said in a statement to AFP he "decided to remove Jacques Lefranc as managing director of the publication as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual."

"We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication" of the cartoons, the statement added.

The French government earlier said the decision to reprint the dozen caricatures was the "sole responsibility" of France Soir, while also reaffirming its commitment to freedom of the press.

France Soir, a once successful daily which is now fighting to survive, said it had intended to illustrate the controversy sparked by their initial publication in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten paper in September.

Islam considers any image of the prophet blasphemous, and Muslim anger over the caricatures has boiled over into a diplomatic row threatening Danish trade interests.

The head of the official French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM), Paris mosque rector Dalil Boubakeur, described France Soir's decision as a "real provocation".

French foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said: "The caricatures published today in France Soir are the sole responsibility of the newspaper which published them.

"The principle of freedom of the press, which the French authorities defend everywhere in the world, cannot be called into question," he told reporters.

However, the spokesman added, press freedom "should be exercised in a spirit of respect for beliefs and religions."

The French paper said it had acted "not from an appetite for gratuitous provocation, but because they constitute the subject of a controversy on a global scale which has done nothing to maintain balance and mutual limits in democracy, respect of religious beliefs and freedom of expression".

According to France Soir, "these 12 drawings could appear harmless (but their publication), which has tested the limits of the freedom of expression in Denmark, has engendered a wave of indignation and anger in the Muslim world."

Morocco meanwhile forbade all sales of France Soir on its territory, officials said in Rabat.

"Wednesday's edition of France Soir was banned from the Moroccan territory because of the publication by the French newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Sidna Mohammed on the fallacious pretext of freedom of the press," said the Moroccan ministry of communications in a statement made available to AFP.

The ministry said the ban was a reaction to "the intentionally offensive character (of the cartoons) to the Prophet and the fact that they were a blatant and gratuitous provocation for the beliefs of Muslims."

Muhammad cartoon row intensifies
French daily newspaper France Soir
Some of the cartoons depict the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist
Newspapers across Europe have reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to show support for a Danish paper whose cartoons have sparked Muslim outrage.

Seven publications in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain all carried some of the drawings.

Their publication in Denmark led Arab nations to protest. Islamic tradition bans depictions of the Prophet.

The owner of one of the papers to reprint - France Soir - has now sacked its managing editor over the matter.

The cartoons have sparked diplomatic sanctions and death threats in some Arab nations, while media watchdogs have defended publication of the images in the name of press freedom.

Reporters Without Borders said the reaction in the Arab world "betrays a lack of understanding" of press freedom as "an essential accomplishment of democracy."

'Spiting Muslims'

France Soir and Germany's Die Welt were among the leading papers to reprint the cartoons, which first appeared in Denmark last September.

The caricatures include drawings of Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers.

France Soir originally said it had published the images in full to show "religious dogma" had no place in a secular society.

CARTOON ROW
Palestinians burn a Danish flag
30 Sept: Danish paper Jyllands-Posten publishes cartoons
20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors in Denmark complain to Danish PM
10 Jan: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons
26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador
30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office
31 Jan: Danish paper apologises
1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons

In pictures: Cartoon outrage
Outrage bemuses Denmark

But late on Wednesday its owner, Raymond Lakah, said he had removed managing editor Jacques Lefranc "as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual".

Mr Lakah said: "We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication."

The president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), Dalil Boubakeur, had described France Soir's publication as an act of "real provocation towards the millions of Muslims living in France".

Other papers stood by their publication. In Berlin, Die Welt argued there was a right to blaspheme in the West, and asked whether Islam was capable of coping with satire.

"The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical," it wrote in an editorial.

La Stampa in Italy, El Periodico in Spain and Dutch paper Volkskrank also carried some of the drawings.

European Muslims spoke out against the pictures.

In Germany, the vice-chairman of the central council of Muslims said Muslims would be deeply offended.

"It was done not to defend freedom of the press, but to spite the Muslims," Mohammad Aman Hobohm said.

Sanctions

Correspondents say the European papers' actions have widened a dispute which has grown very serious for Denmark.

ART AND BLASPHEMY CHARGES
Burning copy of Satanic Verses
1989: Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini calls on Muslims to kill British author Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemy in his book The Satanic Verses
2002: Nigerian journalist Isioma Daniel's article about Prophet and Miss World contestants sparks deadly riots
2004: Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh killed after release of his documentary about violence against Muslim women
2005: London's Tate Britain museum cancels plans to display sculpture by John Latham for fear of offending Muslims after July bombings

The publication last September in Jyllands-Posten has provoked diplomatic sanctions and threats from Islamic militants across the Muslim world.

Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller has postponed a trip to Africa because of the dispute.

Thousands of Palestinians protested against Denmark this week, and Arab ministers called on it to punish Jyllands-Posten.

Syria and Saudi Arabia have recalled their ambassadors to Denmark, while Libya said it was closing its embassy in Copenhagen and Iraq summoned the Danish envoy to condemn the cartoons.

The Danish-Swedish dairy giant Arla Foods says its sales in the Middle East have plummeted to zero as a result of the row, which sparked a boycott of Danish products across the region.

The offices of Jyllands-Posten had to be evacuated on Tuesday because of a bomb threat.

The paper had apologised a day earlier for causing offence to Muslims, although it maintained it was legal under Danish law to print them.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed the paper's apology, but defended the freedom of the press.

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