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French interior minister and presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has defended a weekly sued for printing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad... Mr Sarkozy's letter of support was read out in the Paris court hearing the case and prompted France's top Muslim body to call an urgent meeting in response. Editor Philippe Val told the court the cartoons critiqued "ideas, not men". The newspaper Liberation republished the cartoons on Wednesday in solidarity with the magazine... A lawyer for the magazine read a letter out from Mr Sarkozy, who is standing as presidential candidate for the right-wing UMP. Mr Sarkozy noted he was...

A court in Yemen has sentenced a newspaper editor to a year in jail for reprinting Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The court also ordered the independent weekly newspaper which carried the cartoons to be closed for six months. The editor, Kamal al-Aalafi, said he had reprinted the cartoons to raise awareness, not to insult Muslims. The cartoons sparked violent protests around the world after Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published them in 2005. Mr al-Aalafi has been released on bail and will appeal the sentence. The editors of two other Yemeni publications face similar charges. Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits images...

Why we can never lump anti-Islamism or Islamophobia with racism & general bigotry. Without condoning violence of any kind, let's not have a blurry picture on the most understandable feelings in the west. Whether it's in Denmark, Netherland, Russia, UK, Australia or US, heck! even France, we can not let the unique intolerance to those that are intolerant to all of us be lumped into 'any racism' or just 'any bigotry'. What's different about Islamophobia than "general pure racism" that there are so many ( http://thereligionofpeace.com ) serious LEGITIMATE reasons (global victims) behind anti-Islamism. It has more to do with...

European political correctness allows Muslims to resist integration, argues the culture editor of Jyllands-Posten. Instead, Muslims should be treated just like all Europeans -- including being subject to satire. He argues that publishing the caricatures was an act of "inclusion, not exclusion." The worldwide furor unleashed by the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed that I published last September in Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper where I work, was both a surprise and a tragedy, especially for those directly affected by it. Lives were lost, buildings were torched and people were driven into hiding. And yet the unbalanced reactions to the not-so-provocative...

 "EVER SINCE THOSE CARTOONS in Denmark, the rules have changed. Nobody shows an image of Muhammad anymore." When a character on the animated TV show South Park made that avowal a few weeks ago, he could easily have been speaking for media outlets across Europe and North America. This past winter's Cartoon Jihad occasioned far fewer robust defenses of press freedom than it did craven surrenders to the threats of radicals. Now, even South Park, Comedy Central's irreverent powerhouse, has felt the backlash.Sometime in March, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker approached network executives with their idea for...

TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian newspaper’s contest for Holocaust-related cartoons has drawn entries from 200 people, with some drawings mocking the World War II slaughter. One entry shows Jews going into a gas pipeline. Most contest entrants are Iranian, but six are Americans and a few cartoons have been submitted from as far away as Indonesia and Brazil, according to the Hamshahri newspaper. A few of the drawings have been posted online. Hamshahri began the contest last month as a test of the West’s readiness to print cartoons about the Nazi killing of 6 million Jews. The contest, which runs...

Who would've though that a group of Danish cartoonists would strike the most crippling blow to the Islamist political jihad in Europe to date? Even more crippling than the murder of Theo van Gogh, the implications of which, for the most part, did not expand past Holland's borders, the explosion of Islamic rage surrounding these cartoons has forced the Islamists' hand far earlier than would've been prudent and many - not all - Europeans are starting to wonder whether Islam has any place in Western civilization. In Van Gogh's case, the murder of this one man turned a nation of...

Flimflammable Last week we noted CNN's latest excuse for not showing images of the Danish Mohammed cartoons: "CNN is not showing the negative caricatures of the likeness of Prophet Mohammed because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself." Keep in mind, as Michelle Malkin noted, that one or two of the cartoons are not "negative" in any way -- they are simply tame cartoon portraits (see all the of cartoons here). CNN refused to show even these, despite their specific disclaimer about...

Uncle Boutros and Uncle Tom…A Lesson In Arab Tolerance   by Gerald A. Honigman2006/02/12      My friend  and scholar, Jerry Gordon, sent me a note the other day alerting me to Diane West’s great article in the The Washington Times referring to the essential historian, Bat Ye’or’s, writings on dhimmitude.      Having written somewhat myself on the subject of the forced Arabization of much of the region’s lands and peoples since Muhammad’s successors burst out of the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century C.E. and spread Islam by their imperial Caliphal sword in all directions, events of late sired in Denmark also...

Ann Coulter...was definitely Friday’s biggest draw at CPAC 2006. From the get-go the conservative columnist had the crowd cheering and was frequently interrupted by applause. Many of Coulter’s talking points came from recent news events -- such as “the great Danish cartoon caper” and President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees. “Muslims are the only group who kill because people call them violent,” she said of Islam’s rage over the printing of Muhammad cartoons. Speaking about the nation's highest court, Coulter not only expressed elation at Justice Samuel Alito’s confirmation, she also shared her feelings on Chief Justice John Roberts ... She...

The commentariat's response to the Danish cartoons that mocked Muhammad reminds me of the iconic scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Challenged to a duel by a scimitar-wielding enemy, Indiana Jones draws a pistol and dispatches the swordsman without further ado. In my analogy, Indiana Jones, however, is the Muslim world. His showy opponent is the West, which has unleashed its penmen on rampaging Muslim mobs to convolute about the values of freedom of expression, enquiry and conscience. How have Muslims responded to these lofty disquisitions? As Indiana Jones did, lethally – by calling for the heads of the...

I take back every mean, outrageous thing I’ve ever said about liberals. Watching the destructive nature of fanatical Muslims – over a cartoon no less – has made me a lot more appreciative of the nuts in our own country. That’s not to say that I necessarily like liberals, believe they are good for the country, or will be inviting Ted Kennedy over for cocktails and an afternoon drive in his Town Car anytime soon. I just don’t think they are certifiably insane anymore. (Author’s Note: Except for Dennis Kucinich.) Which takes me to the crazed Muslims who have spent...

A TIPPING POINT ON ISLAM'S REPUTATION "I stand by my reaction of the past couple days. But I’ve also come to a depressing conclusion. A significant chunk of the American public, including a number of prominent thinkers on the right, have concluded that the problem with Islam… is Islam."

08 February 2006, 18:00 Yushchenko slams reprinting of Muhammad cartoons in Ukraine Kiev, February 8, Interfax - President Viktor Yushchenko has condemned a Ukrainian newspaper for reprinting some of the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked protests by Muslims across the world. "We regard any publication and any material or action that could insult people's national or religious beliefs as inappropriate and the Ukrainian president condemns any manifestation of intolerance and xenophobia," presidential spokeswoman Iryna Herashchenko told a news conference in Kiev on Wednesday after the paper Syohodni reprinted the cartoons. Yushchenko was doing his best to achieve...

By E&P Staff Published: February 08, 2006 10:15 AM ET NEW YORK Editors across the country continue to face difficult decisions surrounding the cartoons featuring the prophet Muhammad, which have set off rioting abroad. Few American papers have published the cartoon so far, although several have shown them on their Web sites or provided Web links. Here is a look-around: * Four top editors at the New York Press, a weekly in New York City, resigned Tuesday after being ordered, they claim, to pull the Danish cartoons -- from an issue that centers on the dispute. Editor in chief Harry...

MOSCOW, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A Moscow museum has announced it will exhibit the entire series of cartoons of Mohammed that have caused riots throughout the Islamic world. Yury Samodurov, director of the Sakharov Museum and Public Center, said on Russian television that the center was ready to organize a public exhibition of the cartoons satirizing the founder of Islam that originally were published in a Danish newspaper, Pravda.ru reported Monday. "We must show the whole world that Russia goes along with Europe, that the freedom of expression is much more important for us than the dogmas of religious fanatics,"...

Well, it's done. I appeared tonight on Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes for an all-too-brief segment on the Muhammad Cartoons. Before I drove to the Washington, D.C., studio, I stopped by a Kinko's store, printed out the cartoons, and pasted them onto a piece of poster board. I then used my short time on the airwaves to do what no one wants to do on American TV: I tried to show viewers all 12 cartoons to give viewers the full context of the Jyllands-Posten's decision to publish the artwork.

  Frieze depicts Muhammad among 18 "lawgivers" on wall above Supreme Court justices' bench While Muslims engaged in violent protests worldwide over caricatures of Muhammad have insisted any image of their prophet is considered blasphemous, a prominent frieze in the U.S. Supreme Court portrays the Islamic leader wielding a sword. The stone sculptures of 18 lawgivers, from Hammurabi to John Marshall, are meant to signify the law's foundation in a stable society. Included is Moses with the Ten Commandments. The artwork, which is high above the justice's mahogany bench, was designed by sculptor Adolph A. Weinman for the building, which...

Danish fears over potential attempts to hurt its soccer players in wake of publication of Muhammad cartoons may prompt cancellation of match scheduled for MarchThe reason for the possible cancellation is the hostility to Denmark over cartoons disparaging Islam's prophet Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper. Denmark is worried that Islamic elements in Israel could try and harm members of the Danish soccer delegation. According to the report, the Danes will wait until February 21 before making a final decision on the issue, while consultations are held with police intelligence, players, and the Danish foreign ministry.