“Any insult to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is an insult to more than 1bn Muslims and an act like this must never be allowed to be repeated,” said Hamid Karzai, Afghan president, strong western ally and moderate Muslim leader."
"Ursula Plassnik, foreign minister of Austria, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said she understood the offence Muslims felt, adding that EU leaders needed to “clearly condemn” acts that insult religion."
"Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, said he believed “freedom of the press should always be exercised in a way that fully respects the religious beliefs and tenets of all religions”.
The dispute began on September 30, when Jyllands-Posten, Denmark’s biggest newspaper, published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, a move considered blasphemous in Islam. One of the cartoons showed the Prophet with a bomb under his turban. The Danish newspaper later apologised but the row escalated this week after several European newspapers reprinted the cartoons to assert the right to free speech.
Most daily UK newspapers decided not to reproduce the cartoons on Thursday. One cartoon appeared on The Spectator’s website but was quickly taken down.
The French government criticised France Soir, the first French newspaper to reprint the images. In Germany, religious and minority representatives sought to calm after Die Welt, the conservative daily, reprinted the cartoons on Wednesday.