KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has requested the Swedish government to take action against three newspapers in Sweden for publishing and reprinting a caricature of Prophet Muhammad.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Malaysia strongly denounced the reprinting of the caricature on Wednesday.
“Malaysia is concerned that such despicable acts disregard the sensitivities of the Muslim world in the name of freedom of expression.
“Such irresponsible acts are provocative and offensive in nature and hence, are totally unacceptable,” he said in a statement issued here yesterday.
He urged the Swedish government to take measures against the publications to prevent the recurrence of such irresponsible acts in the future.
The caricature, depicting Prophet Muhammad’s head on a dog’s body, is a creation of Swedish artist Lars Vilks, 63, and was submitted to be displayed as an exhibit at a Swedish cultural heritage centre.
However, it was rejected on security reasons.
A Swedish newspaper printed the drawing in 2007, with an editorial defending freedom of expression, leading to protests by Muslim countries and death threats against Vilks.
Meanwhile, PAS Youth is gathering more than one million Muslims to march to the Swedish Embassy here after Friday prayers in protest of the caricatures.
Its chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi said they would hand over a memorandum to the embassy.
“Whether the authorities give us a permit or not, we will march to the embassy as we must defend the sanctity of the religion. We do not need consent from human beings in authority to do so.
“But we will apply for a permit, anyway,” he told reporters after chairing the monthly Youth central committee meeting yesterday.
Nasrudin said non-Muslim brothers were also welcome to march along, as were Umno Youth members.
From The Sun newspaper, Malaysia.
In case you are wondering what the fuss is all about, here is the image that was drawn by the Swedish cartoonist.
With a drawing this bad, I am sure no one would be happy to see it. And he should be more sensitive that Muslims are sensitive when it comes to drawing Prophet Muhammad (s. a. w.).
There are more links that you could view here, in Swedish. You can use Google Translator to read more about them.
Swedish newspaper - Aftonbladet
For image source you can view it here.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Malaysia strongly denounced the reprinting of the caricature on Wednesday.
“Malaysia is concerned that such despicable acts disregard the sensitivities of the Muslim world in the name of freedom of expression.
“Such irresponsible acts are provocative and offensive in nature and hence, are totally unacceptable,” he said in a statement issued here yesterday.
He urged the Swedish government to take measures against the publications to prevent the recurrence of such irresponsible acts in the future.
The caricature, depicting Prophet Muhammad’s head on a dog’s body, is a creation of Swedish artist Lars Vilks, 63, and was submitted to be displayed as an exhibit at a Swedish cultural heritage centre.
However, it was rejected on security reasons.
A Swedish newspaper printed the drawing in 2007, with an editorial defending freedom of expression, leading to protests by Muslim countries and death threats against Vilks.
Meanwhile, PAS Youth is gathering more than one million Muslims to march to the Swedish Embassy here after Friday prayers in protest of the caricatures.
Its chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi said they would hand over a memorandum to the embassy.
“Whether the authorities give us a permit or not, we will march to the embassy as we must defend the sanctity of the religion. We do not need consent from human beings in authority to do so.
“But we will apply for a permit, anyway,” he told reporters after chairing the monthly Youth central committee meeting yesterday.
Nasrudin said non-Muslim brothers were also welcome to march along, as were Umno Youth members.
From The Sun newspaper, Malaysia.
In case you are wondering what the fuss is all about, here is the image that was drawn by the Swedish cartoonist.
With a drawing this bad, I am sure no one would be happy to see it. And he should be more sensitive that Muslims are sensitive when it comes to drawing Prophet Muhammad (s. a. w.).
There are more links that you could view here, in Swedish. You can use Google Translator to read more about them.
Swedish newspaper - Aftonbladet
For image source you can view it here.
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