Are the protests over the publication in Europe of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad justified?

The cartoons have angered Muslims because Islam forbids the human representation of the prophet, and many believe that some of the images ridiculed the prophet.

Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the controversial cartoons about the prophet Muhammad, today acknowledged it would not have published the drawings had it known the consequences of its decision. In a leader entitled 'What if?", the daily title says "the editor in chief of ... Jyllands-Posten has been asked the natural, but hypothetical, question: what if one had known the full consequences of the 12 cartoons printed in the newspaper's cultural supplement on September 30 last year? Would one have still published the cartoons?" "Today the answer is no! If we had known that it would end with death threats and that the lives of Danish people could be put at risk, we would have naturally not have published the drawings."

The leader adds: "It is clear that the price for this journalistic initiative in the light of this background is too high".

February 3, 2006

Should the European press have published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad? What is your reaction to the protests? How do you see the boundaries of freedom of expression versus religious offence?

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