Iran Summons Danish Envoy Over Cartoons

Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Danish ambassador in Tehran, Soren Husland, late on February 13 to protest the renewed publication in Denmark of pictures caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, Radio Farda reported on February 14, citing Iranian state television.

Twelve such cartoons were originally published in September 2005 in the Danish newspaper “Jyllands-Posten,” prompting anger and protests in Islamic countries in the subsequent months.

Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoons on February 13 out of solidarity with Kurt Westergaard, who drew one of the caricatures, after Danish police reportedly arrested three people on February 12 suspected of plotting to kill Westergaard.

The head of the Iranian ministry’s Central and Northern European Affairs department, Hasan Baqeri, told Husland that it is “unacceptable” to insult religion and justify “blasphemous acts” by citing freedom of speech, IRNA reported.

Source Radio Free Europe

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