Johnny & Suzie (behind the scenes !)

Submitted by Another one (Egypt), Mar 13, 2006 at 10:33

Unlike you (sarah,Justme and Sword) i'd like to use the real figures behind what i call "tragedy" because it can hardly be a cheerful kids story,more like a grim tale to me !!

Hope you've got the time because this is kind of a long story i'm about to tell..

On September 17, 2005, the Danish newspaper Politiken ran an article under the headline "Dyb
angst for kritik af islam" ("Profound fear of criticism of Islam"). The article discussed the
difficulty encountered by the writer Bluitgen, who was initially unable to find an illustrator who
was prepared to work with Bluitgen on his children's book Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv
("The Qur'an and the prophet Muhammad's life"). Three artists declined Bluitgen's proposal
before an artist agreed to assist anonymously.

The refusal of the first three artists to participate was seen as evidence of self-censorship and
led to much debate in Denmark, with other examples for similar reasons soon emerging. The
comedian Frank Hvam declared that he would (hypothetically) dare to urinate on the Bible on
television, but not on the Qur'an ! while the translators of an essay collection critical of Islam also wished to remain anonymous due to concerns about violent reaction.

Publication of the drawings " the fear-less Jyllands-Posten!"
On September 30, 2005, the daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten ("The Jutland Post") published an article titled "Muhammeds ansigt" ("The face of Muhammad"). The article consisted of 12
cartoons (of which only some depicted Muhammad).

First wave of reactions :

- The danish imams requested an apology and a clear condemnation regarding the depiction of
prophet muhamad in a very humiliating cartoon by Jyllands-Posten.
- Danish government "no response"
- Danish imams sent several petitions to nearly 11 Islamic ambassadors informing them with the Danish cartoon issue.

Results (Meeting with Islamic Ambassadors refused by Danish Prime Minister)

Having received petitions from Danish imams, eleven Islamic ambassadors asked for a meeting
with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 12 October 2005, in order to discuss
what they perceive as an "on-going smearing campaign in Danish public circles and media
against Islam and Muslims". The ambassadors mention not only the issue of the Muhammad
cartoons, but also a recent indictment against Radio Holger and statements by MP Louise
Frevert and the Minister of Culture Brian Mikkelsen .

- It concluded: "We deplore these statements and publications and urge Your Excellency's
government to take all those responsible to task under law of the land in the interest of inter-faith harmony, better integration and Denmark's overall relations with the Muslim world".

The government anwered the ambassadors' request for a meeting with Rasmussen with a letter
only .PM Rasmussen said, "The government refuses to apologize because the government
does not control the media or a newspaper outlet; that would be in violation of the freedom of
speech".

The ambassadors, on the other hand, maintain that they have never really asked that Jyllands-
Posten should be prosecuted; possibly, the non-technical phrase of the letter, "to take NN to
task under law", means something like "to hold NN responsible within the limits of the law".

The Egypt Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aboul Gheit, wrote several letters to the Prime Minister of
Denmark and one letter to the secretary general of the UN in October and November explaining
that they did not want the Prime Minister to prosecute Jyllands-Posten; they only wanted "an
official Danish statement underlining the need for and the obligation of respecting all religions
and desisting from offending their devotees to prevent an escalation which would have serious
and far-reaching consequences". Subsequently, allegedly disappointed by not being heard by
the Danish government, Egypt played a leading role in diffusing the knowledge of the
Muhammad cartoons to the other regimes of the Middle East.

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Response from the UN :

[ the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has expressed her concern over the 12 cartoons [see them here] depicting the prophet Muhammad which were published in the
Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September. Ms Arbour says that the UN experts on
racism will deal with the matter.

In a message to the OIC, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights states: "I understand
your concerns and would like to emphasize that I regret any statement or act that could express a lack of respect for the religion of others." ]

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Denial from MR. Rasmussen :

[ The refusal to meet the ambassadors is a major point of criticism towards the government from the opposition. It has also been criticized by 22 Danish ex-ambassadors and by Rasmussen's
predecessor as the leader of the governing liberal party Venstre, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen. ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Judicial investigation of Jyllands-Posten :

" prophet Muhammad was portrayed in one of those drawings as a terrorist wearing a bomb on
his head referring to him as a model for suicide bombers"

On October 27, 2005, a number of Muslim organizations filed a complaint with the Danish police claiming that Jyllands-Posten had committed an offence under section 140 and 266b of the Danish Criminal Code according to the following :

- Section (140) of the Criminal Code, known as the blasphemy law, prohibits disturbing public
order by publicly ridiculing or insulting the dogmas of worship of any lawfully existing religious
community in Denmark. It is punishable by either a jail sentence of no more than four months or, in some circumstances, a fine.

- Section ( 266b) criminalises insult, threat or degradation of natural persons, by publicly and
with ill intent attacking their race, color of skin, national or ethnical roots, religion or sexual
orientation. "Danish police began their investigation of these complaints on 27 October 2005."

Investigation results :

the Regional Public Prosecutor in Viborg discontinued the investigation as he found no basis
for concluding that the cartoons constituted a criminal offence. His reason is based on his
finding that the article concerns a subject of public interest and, further, on Danish case law
which extends editorial freedom to journalists when it comes to a subject of public interest. He
stated that, in assessing what constitutes an offence, the right to freedom of speech must be
taken into consideration. That while the right to freedom of speech must be exercised with the
necessary respect for other human rights, including the right to protection against
discrimination, insult and degradation, no apparent violation of the law had occurred.
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FACTS :

- The early editions of cartoon printing reached only few muslim population "merely the danish
muslim minority because of the small distribution circle for that newspaper".
- Re-printing the cartoons effects :
[A group of Danish Imams lobbied decision-makers in the Middle East. A large consumer
boycott was organised in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Middle East countries.Rumours
spread via SMS and word-of-mouth.The foreign ministers of seventeen Islamic countries "
renewed" calls for the Danish government to punish those responsible for the cartoons, and to
ensure that such cartoons would not be published again. The Organization of the Islamic
Conference and the Arab League have demanded that the United Nations impose international
sanctions upon Denmark and that the EU introduce blasphemy laws. For weeks, numerous
protests against the cartoons have taken place worldwide, some of them violent. On February 4, 2006, the buildings containing the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Syria were set ablaze, although no one was hurt. In Beirut the Danish Embassy office was set on fire, resulting in the death of one protester inside.]

- Printed once,nothing much happened.."disappointed because the provoking reaction couldn't
achieve it's purpose"..re-printed again!.."target success,savage muslims radical faces were
shown to the whole world,mission accomplished !".

- After their case refusal and out of frustration,Danish Imams with the lead of "Ahmed abu laban
"decided to make their case bigger and bring it to the Islamic world using some "unlegal"
methods to justify their cause such as "faking another 3 drawings"making the meal even more
spicy !
Pig-face - This picture of a French pig-squealing contestant, taken from the imams' dossier, was later identified as an old Associated Press picture with no reference to Islam. One of the other two additional images portrayed a Muslim being mounted by a dog while praying , and the other portrayed Muhammad as a demonic pedophile.

- With the fake drawings or without them,the muslims eyes wont be blinded from the original
cartoon issue which clearly targeted muslim's most sacred symbol prophet muhammad ,using
him as a "mean" method for attacking radical muslims as the Jyllands-Posten artists claimed :

Asked whether the cartoon displays appropriate respect for Islam, the cartoonist commented:
It does not respect the version of Islam, that provides the spiritual fuel for terrorists. I have
nothing against Islam or Muslims. They should have their freedom, but if parts of a religion
develop in a totalitarian and aggressive direction, then I think you have to protest. We did so
under the other 'isms. Under communism thousands of satirical drawings and other satire were
made that revealed and spoke against it.

- If he portrayed "bin laden",or even the same hideous person he drew, without refering to him as prophet Muhammad.Non of this would have happened.
- It is the satirical intent of the cartoonists and the association of the Prophet with terrorism, that is so offensive to the vast majority of Muslims."According to the BBC report on "Conflicting
traditions"

- Islam was a subject for mockery through years specially after september 11 ,"remember the
Guantanamo quraan incident ".However ,no such a thing happened as deadly riots or killing .A
wiser man should have known when to stop."your freedom ends when it start to hurt someone
else. "
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( Reprinting in other newspapers)

After Al Azhar stamatemnt..again i'll display it !
"AL Azhar"the main source of Islamic organization just like the "vatican" made a
statement that the photos of prophet muhammad pbuh,should never be re-printed..at any
muslim country even for the sake of urging people to take an opposite reaction for it and the one who uses it at any cause is considered to be a hypocrite double-faced person,& shall fall into sin"

Several editors were fired for their decision, or even their intention to re-publish the cartoons (
most prominently Jacques Lefranc, managing director of France Soir, owned by Egyptian
businessman Raymond Lakah "christian orthodox business man".

Three of the cartoons were reprinted in the Jordanian weekly newspaper al-Shihan. The editor,
Jihad Momani, was fired, and the publisher withdrew the newspaper from circulation. Jihad
Momani issued a public apology.Several of the cartoons were reprinted in the Jordanian
newspaper al-Mehwar. The editor Hisham Khalidi was also arrested and charged with insulting
religion. Both charges were dropped two days later.

Al-Hurreya newspaper in Yemen was closed down after publishing some of the cartoons. The
owner and editor of the paper, Abdul-Karim Sabra was arrested.

In Malaysia, Lester Melanyi, an editor of the Sarawak Tribune resigned from his post for allowing
the reprinting of a cartoon. In East Malaysia non-Muslims are a minority in the otherwise
predominantly Muslim state. The chief editor was summoned to the Internal Security Ministry
The Malaysian government has also shut down the newspaper indefinitely. Malaysia's third-
largest Chinese-language daily, Guang Ming, was suspended from publication of its evening
edition for carrying one of the cartoons in its February 3 edition. The suspension ran for two
weeks from February 16 to March 1, 2006. The TV3 television station which aired some of the
cartoons, however, has not been suspended.


Yemen detained three journalists on February 12, 2006 and is seeking a fourth after closing three publications that printed the cartoons. Al-Hurriya, Yemen Observer and al-Rai al-Aam were shut and their case sent to prosecutors. The officials said those detained are Mohammad al-Asaadi, the editor-in-chief of the English-language Yemen Observer, Akram Sabra, the managing editor
of al-Hurriya weekly newspaper, and reporter Yehiya al-Abed of Hurriya. The prosecution has
issued a warrant for Kamal al-Aalafi, the editor-in-chief of al-Rai al-Aam. The Yemeni journalists'
association called for the release of the journalists and for the annulment of the closure decrees "because these measures were not ordered by a court".

On February 12, 2006, Algeria closed two newspapers and arrested their editors for printing the
images of the cartoons of the prophet. Kahel Bousaad and Berkane Bouderbala, the respective
editors of pro-Islamist weeklies Errisala and Iqraa, were detained last week and will appear
before an investigating judge in Algiers on Monday, staff of the two Arabic newspapers said.

On February 4, 2006, the Cardiff University student newspaper Gair Rhydd (which is Welsh for
free word) became the first organ in the United Kingdom to publish the images. The day after
after publication, the decision was taken to pulp the edition and only approximately 200 copies
were actually distributed. The editor along with two journalists were suspended for the decision
to publish. Gair Rhydd resumed publication on 13 February 2006, with an apology.

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The results of "Jyllands-Posten freedom of speech"
Danish Companies Feel Cartoon Boycott Pain
Tuesday February 21, 1:51 pm ET
By Diana Elias, Associated Press Writer
Economic costs

People in Saudi Arabia called for a boycott on Danish products on January 20 and carried it out
starting January 26. The boycott primarily targeted dairy products produced by Arla Foods, but
has also hit other products such as Bang & Olufsen and Lego.
Arla has halted production in the Saudi capital Riyadh and sent home 170 employees.
Denmark is concerned about the potential loss of 11,000 jobs resulting from boycotts against
Danish products in the Islamic world.

One of Europe's largest dairy companies, Arla Foods, was thought to be the worst hit, losing an estimated $1.6 million each day.

In February, the French international supermarket chain Carrefour takes all Danish products off
the shelves in Muslim countries. Posters with the Carrefour logo proclaiming a boycott of
Denmark, resulted in a boycott of Carrefour in Brussels.

Iran has announced that it will cease all trade with "countries that have published the cartoons".
A high level committee involving the Foreign Minister, the Deputy Foreign Minister, the Deputy
Trade Minister and the Deputy Oil Minister has been set up.

The boycott has spread to Kuwait where the country's largest retail chain, the state-owned
Coop, has taken all Danish products off the shelves. This has lead to the Confederation of
Danish Industries sending an open letter to Jyllands-Posten in which they state that the paper
should comment on these events because they feel their members are caught in a "battle"
between religious movements and the paper.The newspaper has reacted to the letter by saying
that "Dictatorships should not dictate what Danish newspapers are to draw and write". [
On February 4, 2006, the buildings containing the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Syria
were set ablaze, although no one was hurt.

On February 12-15 2006, during three days of riots in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan people
demonstrated against symbols of Western culture. Fast food restaurants, banks and two offices of Telenor (a Norwegian telecom company) were vandalized.

Danish companies were badly affected. From Havarti cheese to Lego toys, products made in
Denmark have been yanked off store shelves throughout the Middle East and in other Muslim
countries, where governments and consumers have demanded an apology for the cartoons,
which the Copenhagen government says it cannot provide.

[ Human costs ]
As counted in minimum :
Andrea Santoro, a Catholic priest, was killed on February 5, 2006 in Trabzon, Turkey. A 16 year-
old high school student was arrested two days later carrying a 9mm pistol. The student told
police he had been influenced by the cartoons.

At least four protestors were killed in Afghanistan, in Mihtarlam and an US air base in Bagram.
One boy was trampled to death in Bossaso, Somalia when the crowd stampeded as police fired in the air to disperse them. On February 5th, 2006 one protestor died at the blazing Danish Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon
On February 6th, 2006 one demonstrator involved in the torching of the Danish consulate in
Beirut, Lebanon was found dead on a staircase. One protestor was shot to death in Laghman
Province Afghanistan.
Four people were killed and 22 injured on February 7, 2006 in an attack on a NATO base in
Maymana, Afghanistan.
On February 13, 2006, two people were killed in Lahore, Pakistan. The next day two were killed in Peshawar, Pakistan; and another in Lahore.
On February 15, 2006, three people were killed by local police forces in the city of Peshawar,
Pakistan during widespread demonstrations in the city.
On February 17, 2006, eleven people died during protests in Libya

[ Apology after the sunset! ]

Jyllands-Posten apologized and said it regretted offending Muslims. "It stood by the decision to print the cartoons, saying it was within Danish law."

The drawings "were not intended to be offensive, nor were they at variance with Danish law, but they have indisputably offended many Muslims for which we apologize"

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - A Danish Muslim group Tuesday accepted an apology from a newspaper that published offensive cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad but said later that it had decided the statement was ambiguous.

The Danish Muslims also thanked Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen for saying that his government could not apologize on behalf of a newspaper, but that he personally "never would have depicted Muhammad, Jesus or any other religious character in a way that could offend other people."

[ Defeating the hatred" connecting somehow !"]

Danish talks to cool Muslim anger stir new protests
By Souad Mekhennet The New York Times
FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006

COPENHAGEN Denmark sought Friday to tamp down fierce Muslim protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by inviting Muslim preachers and scholars to a conference that produced calls for dialogue but also fresh protests over the Danish government's refusal to apologize for the publication.

Funded by the Danish Foreign Ministry, the conference prominently featured "Amr Khaled", a 38-year-old preacher from Egypt who has built up a large following among young Muslims and women for his youthful style and sermons that apply Islam to the dilemmas of modern life.Khaled sought to emphasize that "we are here to build bridges for dialogue" and suggested that a continuing boycott of Danish goods in Arab countries could stop if Danes and their government reach out with initiatives such as health care or help for small businesses.

"I would like to show the Danish people that insulting the prophet Muhammad means to us the same as insulting our fathers and mothers," he said.

Several people during the conference said that Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark exacerbated the crisis by declining to meet with Muslim ambassadors who protested the drawings last autumn, before fury had spread to much of the Muslim world.

"Freedom of speech shouldn't be absolute," said Al Habib Ali Aljifri, an Islamic scholar from
Yemen, noting that many European countries do not allow anti-Semitic speech. "We must come to an understanding of rules governing freedom of expression."

No imam from Denmark was invited to the conference, and there was criticism that it was not open to a broad section of the Danish public.

Ahmad Abu Laban, an imam who is based in Denmark and who organized trips to Egypt and Lebanon last autumn that helped stir outrage in the Arab world about the cartoons, was critical of the conference...

end of my lines....
Yet i leave the ending of the story for you "westerns"....

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