Danish prosecutor rejects newspaper cartoon suit

COPENHAGEN - Denmark's public prosecutor has decided not to press charges  against a newspaper for violating Danish blasphemy law by printing 12 drawings of the Prophet Mohammad which triggered widespread Muslim anger.

"I have today decided not to institute criminal proceedings in the case of Jyllands-Posten's article 'The Face of Mohammad', published on September 30," prosecutor Henning Fode said in a statement.

Although the cartoons, one of them portraying the Prophet with a turban shaped as a bomb, did not violate Danish law, Fode said there was "no free and unrestricted right to express opinions about religious subjects."

The caricatures, later reprinted elsewhere, provoked a storm of protests among Muslims, who believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet Mohammad. At least 50 people were killed in protests in the Middle East and Asia, three Danish embassies were attacked and many Muslims boycotted Danish goods.

When printing the drawings, Jyllands-Posten - the first newspaper to publish them - said people had to be ready to put up with "scorn, mockery and ridicule" as part of free speech.

But Fode said it was not a correct description of existing law when Jyllands-Posten claimed it was incompatible with freedom of expression to demand special consideration for religious feelings.

The ruling confirmed an earlier decision by a regional Danish prosecutor and the decision cannot be appealed.

- REUTERS