Thursday, February 08, 2007

Sarkozy defends cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad

"This is an attack on Muslims. It is as if the Prophet taught terrorism to Muslims, and so all Muslims are terrorists." - UOIF President Lhaj Thami Breze told the court according to Reuters.

BBC: French interior minister and presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has defended a weekly sued for printing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Two French Muslim groups are suing Charlie Hebdo magazine for defamation over the cartoons, printed a year ago.

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.

The two-day trial is being seen as a test of the boundaries of free speech and religious sensitivities in France. Sarkozy defends Muhammad cartoons

Allahs Prophet im französischen Wahlkampf

Mark Alexander

3 comments:

beakerkin said...

Sarkozy has a point in that if Muslims want to live in the West they have to understand the values of the West include free expression. They have a right to respond nonviolently with expressions of their owm. I do not think anyone would complain about peaceful protest.

If Muslims can't accept the value of free expression there is no shortage of places to live under
Sharia.

leelion said...

The cartoons were published in Egypt before all the trouble in Denmark so are they suing the Egyptian paper also?

And if not why not?

Always On Watch said...

Last Saturday, the Fox special with E.D. Hill actually showed some of the MTP cartoons. A first on American TV, I think. And long overdue.

If Muslims are so offended by Western freedoms, then they should go to live in an Islamic country, where they'll feel more "comfortable." It is not the West's job to change to suit them.

I love that last paragraph of Beak's comment!