Muslims Seek UN Resolution Over Danish Cartoons

CAIRO, January 30, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, the Muslim world's two main political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions following the publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
"Consultations are currently taking place at the highest level between Arab countries and the OIC to ask the UN to adopt a binding resolution banning contempt of religious beliefs and providing for sanctions to be imposed on contravening countries or institutions," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, OIC's secretary general, told reporters in Cairo on Sunday, January 29, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He said the UN General Assembly would be asked to "pass a resolution banning attacks on religious beliefs."
The deputy secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Ben Helli, confirmed that contacts were under way for such a proposal to be made to the United Nations.
Twelve drawings depicting Prophet Muhammad in different settings appeared in Jyllands-Posten, Denmark's mass-circulation daily, on September 30.
One of the drawings depicted a man assumed to be the prophet as wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.
The cartoons were reprinted in a Norwegian magazine earlier this month just to add insult into injury.
The drawings triggered a diplomatic crisis and massive popular protests across the Muslim world.
Embassy Closed
With Muslim political and popular anger showing no sign of abating, Libya said Sunday it was closing its embassy in Denmark in protest against the publication of the caricatures.
"In light of the attacks against Prophet Muhammad and the silence of the Danish authorities, Libya has decided to close down its diplomatic representation in Copenhagen," the Foreign Ministry announced in a statement run by the official Jana news agency.
The statement added that Libya would take "retaliatory economic measures against Denmark."
Muslim wrath has spread rapidly in the Middle East with Gulf retailers pulling Danish products off their shelves and protestors gathering outside Danish embassies.
Syria and Bahrain were the latest Arab countries to join the chorus.
"Syria calls on the Danish government to take the necessary measures to punish the culprits. The dialogue of civilizations is based on mutual respect," said an official quoted by the official Syrian news agency on Sunday.
The Bahraini cabinet, at a meeting on Sunday, condemned the cartoons "which are a deliberate attack against the glorious Prophet Muhammad and have angered Muslims the world over."
Saudi Arabia has already recalled its ambassador to Denmark in protest at the Danish government's position on the publication of the offensive cartoons.
Adamant
"The Danish government and the Danish nation as such can not be held responsible for what is published in independent media," Rasmussen said.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Sunday his government could not act against the satirical cartoons, reported Reuters.
"The government can in no way influence the media. And the Danish government and the Danish nation as such can not be held responsible for what is published in independent media," he insisted.
Jyllands-Posten had not intended to insult Muslims when it published the drawings, said the premier, referring to an editorial on the paper's Web site in Danish and Arabic.
"We are sorry the matter has reached these proportions and repeat that we had no intention to offend anyone, and that we as the rest of the Danish society respect freedom of religion," the newspaper's editor-in-chief Carsten Juste said in the editorial.
According to Reuters, the newspaper has not apologized for publishing the drawings, which have caused widespread anger among Muslims around the world.
A majority of Danes believe their government and media should not apologize for the jibes.
A poll for Danish Radio by the Epinion research institute published Saturday showed that 79 percent of Danes surveyed said Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen should not apologize on Denmark's behalf, 18 percent said he should and three percent were undecided.