Scandinavians blast newspaper's apology

The Danish newspaper Politiken has apologized to a Saudi Arabian law firm acting on behalf of descendants of the prophet Mohammad for re-printing a Mohammad cartoon. The newspaper's action has been met with strong criticism from media and politicians.

The Danish national daily Politiken complied with the request of the Saudi lawyer Faisal Yamani representing the directors of 8 organizations in Egypt, Libya, Qatar, Australia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Palestine. The groups represent 94,923 members, all descendents of Mohammed.

Politiken and Yamani crafted a settlement apologizing for the offense the Mohammed cartoons have caused. Politiken reprinted the cartoon drawing of the Prophet Mohammed created by Mr. Kurt Westergaard. The cartoon was originally published by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 together with 11 other drawings of the Prophet Mohammed.

Politiken's Editor in Chief, Tøger Seidenfaden, made the apology public on Friday, February 26, and immediately was met with disbelief and accusations that the Danish newspaper had betrayed the principle of freedom of speech. Denmark’s prime and foreign ministers also expressed their concern at Politiken’s decision to apologize, and Danish media blasted Politiken's action.

“Politiken has betrayed the battle for freedom of speech. They’ve given up and bowed to threats. That is, of course, disgraceful,” says Jyllands-Posten’s Editor-in-Chief Jørn Mikkelsen, who was the first newspaper to print the Mohammad cartoons.

Other Danish newspapers, such as Berlingske Tidende, Jyllands-Posten and Kristeligt Dagblad, received the same letter from the Saudi lawyer, but they have told Politiken that they have no interest in a settlement in which they apologize.

"It was never Politiken's intention to offend Muslims in Denmark or elsewhere with the reprinting of the Cartoon Drawing," Politiken said in a statement. "However, Politiken recognizes and deplores that our reprinting of the Cartoon Drawing of the Prophet Mohammed has offended Muslims in Denmark and in other countries around the world. We apologize to anyone who was offended by our decision to reprint the Cartoon Drawing.”

“The settlement looks ahead and expresses very sensible views. It may possibly reduce the tensions that have shown themselves to be so resilient. It gives us hope that relations between Denmark, and not least its media, and the Muslim world can be improved,” Chief Editor Seidenfaden says, adding he does not believe Politiken's move is a freedom-of-speech sellout.

Under the settlement, Politiken has not given up its right to publish the cartoons and does not apologize for having printed them, but rather for the affront felt by some Muslims. The agreement follows an initiative by the Saudi lawyer from August last year. Yamani approached a total of 11 Danish newspapers with demands that the cartoons be removed from internet pages, that media apologize, and that media promise not to re-print the cartoons in question, or similar cartoons, again.

“It’s crazy. The media carries offensive material every day. That is what freedom of speech is about,” says Social Democratic Leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt.