Danish Court Rejects Cartoons Lawsuit

A Danish court Thursday dismissed a defamation lawsuit against a newspaper that first published the Prophet Muhammad cartoons that touched off protests in the Islamic world.

The City Court in Aarhus rejected claims by seven Danish Muslim groups who said the 12 drawings printed in Jyllands-Posten were meant to insult the Prophet and make a mockery of Islam.

Islamic law forbids any depiction of the Prophet, even positive ones, to prevent idolatry.

"It cannot be ruled out that the drawings have offended some Muslims' honor," the court said. But it added there was no basis to assume that "the purpose of the drawings was to present opinions that can belittle Muslims."

Jyllands-Posten's editor said the decision was a victory for freedom of speech. The Danish Muslims who filed suit said they would appeal the ruling, which was criticized by some Muslim leaders outside Denmark.

The newspaper published the cartoons on Sept. 30, 2005, with an accompanying text saying it was challenging a perceived self-censorship among artists afraid to offend Islam.

The caricatures were reprinted in European newspapers in January and February, fueling protests in the Islamic world. Some turned violent, with protesters killed in Libya and Afghanistan.

Jyllands-Posten's editor in chief, Carsten Juste, said the ruling confirmed the newspaper's "incontestable right" to print the drawings.

"Everything but a pure acquittal would have been a disaster for the press freedom and the media's possibility to fulfill its duties in a democratic society," Juste said.

He did not, however, see an end to the controversy, saying, "There are radical people in this world that simply don't want this case settled."

Kasem Ahmad, a spokesman for the Muslim plaintiffs, told Danish radio that they would appeal.

In Muslim countries, the verdict was met with disappointment.

"It is not up to the court to decide if Muslims will have hard feelings or not," said Ameer ul-Azeem, spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami, whose group belongs to an Islamic alliance that organized mass protests across Pakistan earlier this year.

In Syria, where a mob attacked and set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in February, Mohammed Habash, a legislator who heads the Islamic Studies Center in Damascus, said the ruling would "widen the gap between the Western and Islamic world."

"What the newspaper did represents a true insult to millions of Muslims who do not follow Danish laws," he said.

One of the cartoons showed the Prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a burning fuse.

The court said some of the drawings could be perceived as linking Islam to terrorism, but added the purpose was to provide social commentary rather than to insult or ridicule Muslims.

The seven Danish Muslim groups filed the defamation suit in March, after Denmark's top prosecutor declined to press criminal charges, saying the drawings did not violate laws against racism or blasphemy.

The plaintiffs, who claimed to have the backing of 20 more Islamic organizations in the Scandinavian country, had sought $16,860 in damages.

The lawsuit said the cartoons were published "solely to provoke and mock not only the Prophet Muhammad but also the Muslim population."