Wednesday, February 01, 2006

French paper reprints controversial Danish cartoons

PARIS - A French newspaper reprinted on Wednesday a series of 12 controversial Danish newspaper cartoons that have sparked protests in the Muslim world and prompted Saudi Arabia to recall its ambassador from Denmark.
The France Soir daily said it had published the cartoons in the name of freedom of expression and to fight religious intolerance, saying a secular country like France could not be bound by the precepts of any religion.
There was no immediate reaction from Muslim leaders in France, which is home to the largest Islamic minority in Europe.
Thousands of Palestinians protested against Denmark this week for allowing publication of the cartoons and Arab ministers called on it to punish the newspaper that first printed them.
The paper has apologised for any hurt caused but the government says it cannot tell free media what to do. France Soir, which is in financial difficulties and looking for a buyer, devoted two inside pages to the Danish cartoons, with editor Serge Faubert defending the decision to publish.
“Enough lessons from these reactionary bigots! There is nothing in these incriminated cartoons that intends to be racist or denigrate any community as such,” he wrote in a commentary piece.
“Some are funny, others less so. That’s it. That is why we have decided to publish them.” ”No, we will never apologise for being free to speak, to think and to believe,” he added.
Faubert was not available for comment and there was no comment from the leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), a body set up to represent France’s 5 million Muslims.
Islam is the second religion in this traditionally Roman Catholic country and has sometimes had difficult relations with the authorities because of the strict separation between the state and religion.
Relations with devout Muslims were strained by a September 2004 law banning religious symbols in state schools, which prohibited the wearing of Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses in the state’s secular schools.
Islam sees images of its prophets as disrespectful and caricatures as blasphemous.