JEDDAH, 9 February 2006 -- Muslims are expressing further disappointment with the Danish newspaper that published sacrilegious cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) after The Guardian of London reported that the same publication had earlier refused to run cartoons of the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) contending they could be offensive to readers.

An editor at Jyllands-Posten dismissed the report maintaining that the Jesus cartoons were "unsolicited material" and "silly" as protests against the blasphemous cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad claimed three more lives yesterday.

Afghan police fired at a crowd trying to storm a US military base in the town of Qalat, in southern Zabul province. The latest deaths brought the total number of Afghans killed in protests this week to 10.

In Tehran, demonstrators pelted the British Embassy with stones, shouting "Death to Britain" and "We are willing to sacrifice our lives for the Prophet Muhammad."

In Paris, President Jacques Chirac condemned "overt provocations" which could inflame passions. "Anything that can hurt the convictions of someone else, in particular religious convictions, should be avoided," said Chirac.

In Washington, US President George W. Bush said the violence must stop. "I call upon the governments around the world to stop the violence. To be respectful. To protect property. To protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving their countries overseas," said Bush.

He, however, said that although a free press must be respected, it also comes with responsibility. "With freedom comes the responsibility to be thoughtful about others," Bush said in his first public comments on the issue.

In the Palestinian city of Hebron, international monitors briefly withdrew after Palestinians attacked their headquarters in protest at the cartoons.

In New York, the United Nations, European Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) expressed alarm over worldwide fury against the cartoons. They called for restraint and dialogue.

"We are deeply alarmed at the repercussions of the publication in Denmark several months ago of insulting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and their subsequent republication by some other European newspapers, and at the violent acts that have occurred in reaction to them," representatives of the three organizations said in a joint statement.

"We believe freedom of the press entails responsibility and discretion and should respect the beliefs and tenets of all religions," said the statement signed by UN chief Kofi Annan, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

The Guardian report on Monday said that Jyllands-Posten turned down the cartoons of Prophet Jesus three years ago on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny. In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons to Jyllands-Posten dealing with the resurrection of Prophet Jesus.

Zieler told The Guardian's Gladys Fouche that he received an e-mail back from the newspaper's local section editor, Jens Kaiser, which said: "I don't think Jyllands-Posten's readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will not use them."

The illustrator wrote back to the editor saying: "I see the cartoons as an innocent joke, of the type that my Christian grandfather would enjoy. I showed them to a few pastors and they thought they were funny."

But Jens Kaiser, the Jyllands-Posten editor in question, told The Guardian that the case was "ridiculous to bring forward now. It has nothing to do with (Prophet) Muhammad's cartoons.

"In the (Prophet) Muhammad drawings case, we asked the illustrators to do it. I did not ask for these cartoons. That's the difference," Kaiser is quoted as saying in the London newspaper. "The illustrator thought his cartoons were funny. I did not think so. It would offend some readers -- not much, but some."

In retrospect, it appears the same standard could have been employed in the incident that has sparked a boycott of Danish goods, demonstrations and riots throughout the Muslim world.

In an e-mail to Arab News yesterday, Kaiser said: "It is correct that before Easter 2003, Zieler offered me some cartoons of Jesus Christ and the resurrection. He sent them on his own initiative. I had not asked for them. However, I promised him that I would consider his offer because he argued that they were funny.

"Having seen the cartoons, I found that they were not good. My fault is that I didn't tell him what I really meant: The cartoons were bad. Instead, I told him that they would offend some readers. I do think the cartoons would offend some readers, but only because they were silly. I regret that I didn't foresee that my kind refusal mail would be published three years later in a totally different context."

The Guardian report is being widely circulated and debated in Internet chatrooms across the Muslim world. "We have always had our doubts that the cartoons were published with a view to insulting Muslims. But ever since this controversy burst onto the Muslim street, there was this other view in the Muslim world, which said that maybe the Jyllands-Posten editors did not foresee the consequences of their decision and that they genuinely believed in the freedom of expression. But this report flies smack into the face of the newspaper's editors," wrote Nasser Al-Haddad on an Arab website.

"They clearly knew that the publication of the cartoons of Prophet Jesus will offend people, and they didn't go ahead with them. Likewise, they must have known the offense they could cause with the publication of our beloved Prophet's cartoons. The Guardian report exposes their double standard," Al-Haddad added.

"What about freedom of expression when anti-Semitism is involved? Then it is not freedom of expression. Then it is a crime," said Arab League chief Amr Moussa in Cairo. "But when Islam is insulted, certain powers ... raise the issue of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression should be one yardstick, not two or three," he said. "The Danish cartoons showed European disdain for Arabs and Muslims."

"Jyllands-Posten could and should have stopped this controversy from snowballing by simply tendering an apology. They remained arrogant and tried to defend what was clearly indefensible," said Nasreen Abdul Rahman, who teaches English at a secondary school in Jeddah. "We have many differences with Europe and Europeans, but Prophets should be above lampooning because in the end we are all People of the Book. If Prophet Jesus or Prophet Moses were lampooned, the reaction in the Muslim world would have been on similar lines," she told Arab News.

Nasreen cited a Qur'anic verse to explain her point of view. "We Muslims believe in the Holy Qur'an, and Verse 285 of Surah Baqara says very clearly: 'The Apostle believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his Lord as do the men of faith. Each one of them believeth in God, His angels, His books and His apostles. We make no distinction between one and another.'"

An imam in Jeddah said: "Danes are good people. They should not be harmed. Like all societies they do have their fair share of extremists. The newspaper is clearly to blame here for heaping this insult on Muslims. People are very frustrated at what is happening now."

Dr. Mohamed Ramady, a professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), said the issue was not one of freedom of the press but legal protection of religion under European blasphemy laws.

"Most European countries that have advocated freedom of expression for the press have also introduced blasphemy laws that protect the feelings and beliefs of religions, and this has worked well even in countries with an Islamophobic press," Dr. Ramady told Arab News. "Islamic countries have the option of pursuing legal action under current EU blasphemy laws."

By Siraj Wahab

© Arab News 2006