Tunisia seizes French newspaper over Islam remark

TUNIS - Tunisia has confiscated Tuesday's edition of French newspaper Le Figaro because its content insulted Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, an official source said on Wednesday.

The daily ran an article by philosopher Robert Redeker on the controversy over the Pope's remarks on Islam in which Redeker described the Koran as a "book of unprecedented violence" and accused Muslims of seeking to intimidate the West.

"The edition of September 19 of Le Figaro which contains offensive material about Islam has been confiscated," the source said.

The Pope enraged Muslims in a speech a week ago in Germany quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the Prophet Mohammad brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

The leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics said on Sunday he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction caused -- but stopped short of apologising for his words or retracting them.

- REUTERS