Pakistani demonstrators at a protest rally against the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Mohammad in Islamabad, yesterday. Police fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse small groups of demonstrators in Islamabad after earlier sealing the capital to stop the Islamists. - REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters):
A DANISH newspaper editor said yesterday he had sought to defend free expression against self-censorship and "challenge a Muslim taboo" by commissioning cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad which outraged many Muslims.
Flemming Rose, the culture editor of Denmark's Jyllands-Posten, wrote in an opinion article for Sunday's edition of The Washington Post that his newspaper had meant no disrespect for Islam, but it was wrong in a democracy for the taboos of one religion to restrict public debate.
"We certainly didn't intend to trigger violent demonstrations throughout the Muslim world," Rose wrote. "Our goal was simply to push back self-imposed limits on expression that seemed to be closing in tighter."
The cartoons had led to constructive debate in Denmark and the controversy may hasten the integration of Muslims into European societies, he said. But the impact on the Middle East was "more complex," and he acknowledged the current climate made it hard to relax self-censorship.
