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Holy Prophet’s cartoons on OIC’s agenda

COPENHAGEN: Caricatures of Muhammad (PBUH) published in a Danish paper, which have already caused uproar in Muslim communities in Denmark and abroad, will be on the agenda at an Islamic summit in Mecca next month, said an Egyptian diplomat on Friday.

“We have been informed by our foreign minister that this caricature affair will be on the agenda at a special summit of the Islamic Conference,” said Mohab Nasr Mostafa Mahdy, the embassy’s deputy ambassador.

“This is a collective initiative taken by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and Egypt played a leading role,” he said. Images of the prophet are considered blasphemous under Islam. On Wednesday, Egypt’s ambassador in Beirut, Hussein Darrar, said he and Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh had discussed which measures to take against Denmark following the Jyllands-Posten paper’s publication of 12 Muhammad cartoons in September.

“We have asked the Danish government to take measures, but have not received a response to our request. As a result, we have decided not to continue talks with Denmark on the issue of human rights and discrimination and other measures concerning Denmark’s” agenda within international bodies, Darrar told reporters. Meanwhile, sources close to the Danish Foreign Ministry insisted the ministry had never received such a request. Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller on Friday repeated the government’s response that it would not intervene in the case because of the “inviolable nature of freedom of expression”. However Moeller said he would make contact with the Egyptian government to discuss the issue without specifying a date.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that he would not intervene in the affair but said the diplomats were free to undertake legal proceedings.

“The freedom of expression is the very foundation of the Danish democracy and the Danish government has no means of influencing the press,” he said. afp

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