Danish Cartoonist Rejects to Apologize to Muslims Saying: Ready to Stand on Trial (Watch)

After the defendant in a Jordanian court notes the presence of 20 editors of the Danish media that republished the last drawings of caricatures deemed insulting the Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him), Tøger Seidenfaden the Danish the editor-in-chief of the broadsheet newspaper Politiken claimed that he didn’t get any papers yet.

I have captured a video so you can watch Tøger Seidenfaden talking about the charges against him.

I would like also to publish this article By Mohammad Ghazal who met Kurt Westergaard the cartoonist during our course in Denmark.

COPENHAGEN/DENMARK- The cartoonist who drew offensive caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammad that sparked worldwide protests and a boycott campaign of Danish products said recently he was ready to stand trial in Amman to defend himself.

Kurt Westergaard, whose Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a total of 12 cartoons in September 2005, said he learnt that he was subpoenaed by the Amman prosecutor general early June along with several Danish journalists and editors involved in the republication of the caricatures.

“I would like to go to Amman to stand trial. However, what I fear is that I am convicted in advance,” Westergaard told The Jordan Times in Copenhagen on Monday. The cartoonist said he was not officially notified of the subpoena.

Toger Seidenfaden, chief editor of the Politiken, a Danish daily that republished the cartoons about 16 times, said he also was ready to face court in Jordan and defend himself, noting that he was not officially informed of the summoning by authorities in his country.

Asked about the rationale behind the cartoons, the 73-year-old artist said: “I made the cartoons to highlight that there are some terrorists who misuse Islam and they take it as their spiritual ammunition. I wanted to depict the terrorists as if they were taking the Prophet Mohammad as a hostage.”

“I have no problem with Islam but with the terrorists,” he told The Jordan Times.

Stressing his respect for Islam and all religions, the artist, who described himself as an atheist, said: “I respect Islam and its followers and I have nothing against it. I have respect for other peoples’ religions… However, I will not apologise. We have freedom of the press and religion in Denmark.”

Politiken’s chief editor said he was critical of the cartoons, but explained that republishing them was part of normal coverage of important issues.

“I am against the cartoons. I am critical of them and they were a kind of anti-Muslim intended to humiliate and provoke Muslims not only here in Denmark but also abroad. However, I defend the freedom of press,” Seidenfaden told The Jordan Times during a visit to his newspaper on Monday.

He explained that the newspaper republished the cartoons about 16 times after the Danish police foiled an attempt to kill the Danish cartoonist.

“We used them as a kind of documentation to show the public what we are talking about in the stories,” Seidenfaden said.

According to the chief editor, on February 12, 2008, the Danish domestic intelligence service announced that it had arrested three residents of Denmark, whom it suspected of preparing to murder Westergaard, who drew the most controversial cartoons.

The cartoonist, who said he has been living for almost six months now under police protection around-the-clock as the Danish intelligence revealed an attempt to kill him, said: “I cannot apologise… I respect Islam and I did not target it.”

Referring to the subpoena decision by the Jordanian prosecutor, the chief editor said: “Even though the Internet sites of the Danish media concerned are written in Danish they are theoretically accessible to Jordanians. But I find it hard to believe that Jordanian law applies, or should apply in this case. But that is for the lawyers to decide.”

On June 3, Amman Prosecutor General Hassan Abdallat subpoenaed several Danish journalists and editors involved in the republication of offensive caricatures. The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed in April by the “Messenger of Allah Unites Us”, a campaign led by local media outlets to respond to what they saw as provocative acts by their Danish peers.

The prosecutor’s decision to subpoena the defendants was based on articles in the Jordanian Penal Code and the Press and Publications Law.

Members of media outlets, professional syndicates and political parties have also participated in the lawsuit, while a list of 10,000 signatures protesting against the “unlawful” spread of hatred was submitted to the court.

The reaction to the cartoons took several forms including political statements, peaceful demonstrations and attacks against Danish embassies in Beirut, Damascus and Tehran and resulted in the death of around 50 people, mainly in Pakistan and Sudan.