Danish Mohammed Cartoons

The French/Algerian journalist, Mohammed Sifaoui, who caught the Danish imams on candid camera, has written a book about the cartoon crisis - Dessins et Manipulations.

According to Sifaoui, the affair over the caricatures has demonstrated, how Islamists try to subdue the Western democracies with their religious dictates. But the affair has also functioned as a thermometer for courage and cowardice in the Western countries.

The front page is illustrated by Ramo, a Muslim artist of Algerian descent. The left side shows three imams producing fake Mohammed cartoons. One of them has made a drawing of Mohammed as a pig and says, "I have one, which will make trouble". The imams don't bear any physical resemblance to Kasem Said Ahmad, Ahmed Akkari or Abu Laban.

On the right hand side "Mohammed expresses himself at last" and says, "The first ones to insult the Muslim religion are those, who kill innocent people in the name of Islam."

Israel is attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon and the civilians are getting worried. Strangely, a large proportion of the Lebanese population turns out to be Danish (5,000 people), Swedish (6,000) or Canadian (30,000). Apparently lots of people, who have received asylum, are now on vacation in the very country from which they have ostensibly fled.

Akkari hiding behind the Danish flag.

Luckily, the Danish embassy which was burned down in February is functioning again. But it turns out that one of these people with Danish passports Danes is none other than Ahmed Akkari - one of the lying imams, who travelled the Middle East with their fake Mohammed cartoons and thus were directly responsible for the embassy burnings.

Danes, Swedes lead evacuation race (CNN)

The Danes got a test run in crisis management earlier this year when newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad triggered violent protests against Danish embassies in Muslim countries.

One of the Danish Muslims who spearheaded the rallies against the prophet drawings, Lebanese-born Ahmad Akkari, was among those evacuated from Beirut on Thursday.

"My impression is that the transportation has been safe and that no one has been suffering," Akkari told Denmark's TV2 channel as he boarded a Greek ferry chartered by Denmark.

Ahmed Akkari has Danish citizenship since he only received a suspended sentence for violence in 2001. His wife and daughter are not Danish, but have now received a temporary residency permit.

So Akkari and his family are going to Denmark. This time Akkari is neither burning the Danish flag - nor trampling on it - but hiding behind it.

Added: Fixed typo, 30,000 Canadians - not "30,0000" (thank you, Unright@Fark).

Added: According to Danish Television (Danish text), 5,300 people have been evacuated. 47 of these weren't Danish citizens but have received a 90 days temporary residency permit (this group includes Akkari's wife and daughter). Among the evacuated are at least 10 criminals, who were expelled from Denmark for a period of no less than five years, but who have been granted a visa.

Prominent imam to leave Denmark

Imam Ahmed Abu Laban said he has felt humiliated in the aftermath of the cartoon controversy, which led to riots around the world, and that he would leave Denmark to return to Gaza with his family, the Jyllands-Posten newspaper wrote.

"I have recently felt that I am being viewed as a simple terrorist. No human being can accept that. It is an extreme humiliation," Abu Laban was quoted as saying. "I have taken the decision to leave Denmark."

Abu Laban, who settled in Denmark as a Palestinian refugee in the 1980s, has repeatedly accused Denmark of being disrespectful of Islam and Muslim immigrants.

"I believe that the Islamic cause has been a test for the Western democracies. I believe it has been proven that the Western democracies have no room for human rights," he was quoted as saying.
[ . . ]

Goodbye, Cruel Denmark

Actually Laban has "threatened" to leave Denmark for several months now, and it appears that he hasn't fully made up his plans yet. When EkstraBladet phoned the Laban household last night, his daughter said she was aware of her father's statements, but that it still wasn't finally decided.

JyllandsPosten adds (my translation)

Abu Laban says that he has done all he could and has worked around the clock to create dialogue between Danes and Muslims.

He adds that he could have done the opposite of working for a dialogue:

"I could have created a rebellion. I could have created a Hell here in Denmark. I could make Muslims strike hard. But I have behaved myself with a very high standard for Islamic behaviour [. . .]"

Speaking of Hell and other threats: Spokesman Kasem Ahmad (see here and here warns against possible unrest: There may come "a reaction" against Danish politicians Naser Khader and Pia Kjærsgaard, because they wanted Laban to leave. (Danish text): "There are somebody who's paying a high price for Abu Laban leaving. Maybe there wil come a reaction from people who can't control themselves."

Fathi El-Abed, deputy chairman of Democratic Muslims, disagrees: "I believe anybody in their right mind can see that Abu Laban has pushed himself out of society. He has been in Denmark for more than 20 years without understanding the society he lives in. And then he accuses the society of not understanding him."

Another expert, Helle Lykke Nielsen, fears (Danish text) that Abu Laban's absence will give room for more extreme Muslim leaders from the younger generation". Hey, Laban is a Salafist and member of the Muslim Brotherhood - how can you get more extreme than that?

Abu Laban wins Bad Democracy Award
Imams accused of doublespeak
The Laban-Akkari Dossier
Imam Abu Laban has many tears
Danish imams on candid camera
Creating Outrage (mentions Laban's terror connections)
Danish Imam Who Faked Cartoons, Linked to Terror, Cheered 9-11 (Gateway Pundit)

Update: It turns out that Laban is not about to leave: (Danish text)

Imam Abu Laban has no plans to leave Denmark voluntarily. Abu Laban says so now, after several media Thursday reported that he has given up on Denmark and is on his way to Gaza with his wife and youngest children.

However, should his residency permit be revoked, he would be prepared to leave at once.

- I have never said I wanted to leave Denmark voluntarily. But if the law says I have to leave, then I'll leave of course, says Abu Laban to Ritzau´s bureau.

- I am here in Denmark and well satisfied. In principle I would like to stay, Abu Laban stated Thursday evening in TV2's program "Go' aften Danmark".

Leaving. Not leaving. Extreme humiliation. Well satisfied.

Does anybody know what he's saying? Does he even know himself?

From the "Man bites dog" Department: Danish newspaper sues lawyer representing Muslims

A Danish newspaper said today it had filed a defamation lawsuit against a lawyer representing a group of Muslim organisations which sued the daily for publishing the contentious Prophet Muhammad cartoons that sparked riots across the world.

The Jyllands-Posten sued Michael Christiani Havemann for saying its top editors ordered a cartoonists to deliberately make a "gross" drawing of the Prophet Muhammad because those solicited by freelance artists were not good enough.

Jyllands-Posten’s editor in chief Carsten Juste said Havemann’s accusations “are simply so gross and insulting that he has crossed the line for what we will accept”.
[ . . . ]

Apparently Havemann has repeated some of the old imam-lies.

According to Jyllands-Posten today (Danish text, my translation), Havemann has said, "According to what I've been told, the worst of the drawings - the one with the bomb - was produced by one of the paper's own artists, seemingly ordered by the management, because the cartoons coming from the outside apparently weren't bad enough. If this is correct it further supports one of our fundamental claims: That the purpose of the paper's action was that a religious minority in Denmark by all means had to be ridiculed."

The first lie is that Jyllands-Posten has stated that they meant to Insult, Mock and Ridicule Muslims. We have looked at this lie before.

We have also touched on the second lie before, namely that Jyllands-Posten specifically asked the cartoonists to make insulting drawings. See the page with Lars Refn's cartoon.

The actual truth is that Flemming Rose (culture editor of Jyllands-Posten) has repeatedly stated the opposite: (Why I published those cartoons): "I wrote to members of the association of Danish cartoonists asking them "to draw Muhammad as you see him." We certainly did not ask them to make fun of the prophet."

So who's lying? The imams or Rose? Fortunately the original letter from Flemming Rose to the 40 cartoonists can be found on Journalisten (Danish text) and goes, "We are writing to you in connection with last week's public debate about depicting the Prophet Mohammed and free speech in relation to a children's book by Kåre Bluitgen, where several cartoonists allegedly have said "no thanks" to drawing Mohammed out of fear of the consequences. Jyllands-Posten is on the side of free speech. We would therefore like to invite you to draw Mohammed, as you see him. The result will be published in the paper next weekend."

"draw Mohammed, as you see him" - those were the words. I hope Jyllands-Posten will get the lying imams and their lawyer.

Let's start with some old news: Anti-Islam writer Fallaci said to be planning Mohammed cartoon

Feb 23, 2006, 13:47 GMT

Rome - Oriana Fallaci, an Italian journalist known internationally for her books lambasting Islam, is reportedly working on a satirical cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.

Giornale della Toscana, a local daily from Fallaci's home region of Tuscany, quoted the author Thursday as saying the drawing would depict the Prophet surrounded by 'his nine wives, including the child he married at the age of 70, his 16 concubines and a camel wearing a burqa.'

The unconfirmed report was immediately slammed by Italian Muslim leaders, who warned that it risked sparking angry reactions among followers of Islam.

Yesterday, Ms. Fallaci was interviewed by Flemming Rose (Sunday, Indblik page 7). At the end of the interview Ms. Fallaci says (my translation):

When the unrest started, people contacted me to get a statement, but I had nothing to say so I started making a caricature of Mohammed. It depicted a sensual exchange of glances between a she-camel and the prophet with all his wives lined up. The camel and the wives were wearing burqas, but the drawing didn't turn out well so I threw it away. I told about it at an awards handing ceremony. It triggered a scandal in Italy where a Muslim organization tried to sue me. For a cartoon which nobody has seen and which doesn't even exist.

I'm afraid that's the way it is, Ms. Fallaci:

Claus Seidel has received death-threats and is living under-ground, for making a respectful drawing of Mohammed.

Franz Füchsel has received death-threats and is living under-ground, for portraying Mohammed as a peaceful man.

Arne Sørensen has received death-threats and is living under-ground, for drawing a picture of himself.

Bob Katzenelson has received death-threats and is living under-ground, for drawing a picture of Kåre Bluitgen.

Lars Refn has received death-threats and is living under-ground, for drawing a picture a school-boy named Mohammed.

Denmark is supposed to apologize for the fake Mohammed cartoons produced by the imams.

Denmark should also apologize for a picture of a chair, which according to the imams is even more blasphemous.

Denmark is also supposed to apologize for cartoons, which which only exist in the mind of the imams.

And the Vatican is busy apologizing for a cartoon without Mohammed.

The good news is that all this apologizing is not in vain: Denmark scores poorly as global brand

However, Denmark may be through the worst and inching back to more normal relations with the Muslim world.

One sign was that the Arab League has said it backs Copenhagen's plans to stage a culture festival titled "Images of The Middle East" this year, the newspaper Information reported.

After a lot of apologizing the Arab League will graciously allow Denmark to stage a festival praising the culture of the Middle-East. Allah be praised.

Added: The interview is available in Danish at Snaphanen

© Dansk Islamisk Trossamfund / © Danish Islamic Society

Bin Laden has released a new tape where - among many other things - he request the people responsible for the Danish cartoons be handed over:

Bin Laden called for a global Muslim boycott of American goods similar to the recent ban on Danish products after the publication there of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. He said the artists who drew the offending cartoons should be handed over to him for trial and punishment.

© Dansk Islamisk Trossamfund / © Danish Islamic Society

Mr. bin Laden is right, some of those cartoons were very blasphemous indeed - showing Mohammed as a pedophile demon - and I agree totally: Those who made them should be handed over for punishment.

Yes, I PhotoShopped this image. This is what Muslim protesters would look like if they had any honour

The people behind those cartoons are members of The Danish Islamic Society and their names are Kasem Said Ahmad, Abu Laban, Ahmed Akkari, Abu Bashar and Shaykh Raed Hlayhel .

Please don't be gentle with them, Mr. bin Laden, after all these imams showed a pedophile Mohamed.

The story has now been picked up by the mainstream media, but they repeat the same error they did when covering the Danish Cartoon Jihad: They refuse to show the cartoon(s), and thus create a lot of false information.

So far it seems that The Guardian is the only paper that gets the story straight: Opus Dei paper prints prophet in hell cartoon

A cartoon depicting Muhammed in hell has been published by an Italian magazine close to Opus Dei, bringing angry criticism from Muslim groups and disapproval from the Vatican.

The drawing in Studi cattolici takes its inspiration from Dante's Divine Comedy, in which the 14th-century poet imagines being guided through hell by the Latin poet Virgil, and sees the prophet cut in two as his punishment for spreading division. In the cartoon, Virgil points out another figure to Dante, saying: "And that one there with his pants down, that's Italian policy towards Islam." The caption uses a play on words to suggest Italy has chickened out in its attitude to Muslims.

An Opus Dei spokesman said the magazine was not an official publication of the conservative Roman Catholic fellowship, and the edition had not been checked in advance. The spokesman said Opus Dei's founder, St Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (1902-75) "would have given up his life for the sake of respecting other people's religious freedom".

The Italian section of the World Muslim League said the cartoon was "in extremely bad taste". Souad Sbai, a member of the Italian government's Islamic consultative council, said: "This sort of provocation doesn't get us anywhere." The Vatican's expert on Islam, Father Justo Lacunza Balda, deplored the cartoon: "This really doesn't seem to me like the way towards dialogue and mutual understanding."

In February, amid the furore of a Danish newspaper publishing cartoons of Muhammed, 14 people died in riots in Libya after cabinet minister Roberto Calderoli, appeared on TV wearing a T-shirt with one of the cartoons, and had to resign. Italian TV is viewed in Libya.

So to sum up:

Dante Alighieri - with hat

• The cartoon does not postulate that Mohammed has been cut in two - this was done 700 years ago by Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy.
  
• The cartoon does not show Mohammed cut in two - in contrast to a score of drawings in the last 700 years. See the Mohammed Image Archive for examples.
  
• All the cartoon does is to add a reference to the current Italian policy regarding Islam.
  
• Nitpicking: Dante (to the left) is the guest, who asks the questions. He's wearing the same hat on the cartoon as on the picture to the right. Virgil (with Roman laurels) guides Dante around in Hell and answers the questions. Most newspapers got it the other way around.

The cartoon quotes Dante (which every Italian school boy and girl knows by heart). The cartoon doesn't show Mohammed. All it does is making a comment on current politics.

People, who cry "blasphemy" and call it "extremely bad taste", are once again proving that they are using their religion as a political tool.

BTW, unfortunately The Guardian repeats another old error. The Italian minister, Roberto Calderoli, who was fired, did not wear a Danish cartoon. See The Carnival is over. It could also be argued whether the riots in Tripoli were caused by a minister's choice of underwear, or by old hate between Italy and its old Colony, Libya.

For many years, the Vatican has followed a surprisingly pro-Islamic, anti-Western course. Some may remember how the Vatican were among those who criticized Jyllands-Posten for publishing the 12 cartoons.

This is slowly changing, however. John Paul II spent his later years getting the Jesuits away from revolution and back to religion. One sign was the beatification of Marco d'Aviano:

Marco d'Aviano, known as a fiery orator, persuaded European Christian monarchs to lift [i.e. repel] the Ottoman siege in Vienna in 1683. A biography records that during the fighting, d'Aviano brandished a crucifix at the Turks, shouting, "Behold the cross of the Lord: Flee, enemy bands!"

[...]
John Paul, however, proposed d'Aviano not as a model of resistance to Islam, but as an apostle of Europe's Christian identity. The European Union is currently preparing a constitutional document, and the Vatican has insisted that the document must include a reference to the Christian roots of the continent.

Now, after having criticized the Danish cartoons, the Vatican in their "Studi Cattolici" has published a Cartoon of Muhammad in hell:

Rome - An Italian magazine close to the influential Catholic conservative Opus Dei group has published a cartoon showing the Prophet Mohammed in hell, sparking outrage among Muslim associations in Italy.

The drawing is published in the March issue of Studi Cattolici.

According to the Italian news agency Ansa, the cartoon shows the Italian poets Dante Alighieri and Virgil on the edge of a circle of flames looking down on Mohammed, whose body is cut in half.

Mohammed in Hell, by Gustave Doré "he's cut in two because he has brought division to society"

"Isn't that Mohammed?" Virgil is shown asking Dante.

"Yes, and he's cut in two because he has brought division to society," replies Dante.

Cartoons by 12 artists, first published in a Danish newspaper in September and later reprinted in a number of other mainly European dailies, sparked Muslim protests worldwide.

Studi Cattolici editor Cesare Cavalleri said: "I hope the publication of this drawing won't lead to attacks, because if that happened it would only prove the idiotic positions of Islamic extremists.

"Sometimes a politically incorrect satirical cartoon can do some good. It's only a reference to a passage in (Dante's) Divine Comedy.

"In any case, Mohammed was sent to hell by Dante."

The cartoon drew immediate fire from Italy's Muslim community.

Roberto Piccardo, an official of the union of Italian Muslim communities, said: "With all the efforts made in the Christian and Muslim world for inter-faith dialogue, there are nevertheless always minorities that inflame things and cause provocations."

Mohammed in Hell, Church of San Petronio, Bologna

I have been unable to find the new cartoon so the above is taken from the Mohammed Image Archive.

This is far from the first time the Catholic Church has angered Islamists by showing Mohammed in Hell. The picture to the left is a fresco from the Church of San Petronio, Bologna - and in 2002 Al-Qaida plotted to blow up the Bologna church fresco.


Added:
As Marta Salazar points in the comments section, Opus Dei now distance themselves from the cartoon. In the mean time, I found the cartoon on the Danish Blog Polemiken.

Dante: "Isn't that Muhammad?"
Virgil: "Yes, and he's cut in two because he has brought division to society,"
"But the women there, with her trousers down, is the Italian politician in charge of Islam."

So the two first lines of the text are simply the original ones by Dante Alighieri - and Mohammed is not drawn - with or without his entrails hanging out. Compared to the old illustrations on the Divine Comedy this Catholic cartoon is positively tame.

The joke - ha ha - lies in the mentioning of the Italian politician with her trousers down - whoever she may be. She is only person who could feel insulted.

*sigh* They don't make blasphemy like they used to.

Added: It would appear the translation was wrong - it's "Italian policy", not "Italian politician". I'll make a new post and start over.

Much have been said and written about the six Danish imams, who recently participated at the conference in Bahrain. But hardly any attention has been paid to the seventh participant, who was not an imam but a medical doctor.

Mr. Jihad Al-Farra is head of the Muslim Council of Denmark, a group which is virtually unknown in Denmark, and whose members can be counted on one hand. Nevertheless he was interviewed on Al-Jazeera.net this Friday.

Imam or not, Mr. Jihad Al-Farra regurgitates the usual imam-lies (Jyllands-Posten, page 11):

Al-Farra's anger is directed towards the government, which "isolates the Muslim organisations and is selective in its contact to Danish Muslims". He believes that [foreign minister] Per Stig Møller hasn't spoken the truth about the government's approval of Islam as a religion.

"Because of great pressure on the Danish government, it was said that there is three or four approved Islamic organisations, but this is not the same as state recognizing Islam as a religion" he adds.

"Offences of religions results in imprisonment according to the Danish penal code, but since Islam as a religion is not approved in Denmark, the Muslim's case against the Mohammed-drawings has been disregarded."

Let me start by once again quoting from The Danish Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs:

The Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs has approved around 100 individual religious communities including Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Old Norse congregations. 19 of these are Muslim congregations.

And to set the record even more straight:

• In Denmark as a whole there are about 120 mosques or Muslim prayer rooms.
  
• In Copenhagen and a number of other cities in Denmark parts of the public cemeteries are reserved for the burial of Muslims.
  
• Muslim communities are free to establish their own cemeteries according to Danish law, and a large Muslim cemetery in the Copenhagen area is expected to open this year.

Jens Jørgen Thorsen and his Jesus-movie, "The Return"

That's nineteen Muslim communities and not "three or four", and it's been so for a long time. It isn't something the Minister of Foreign affairs has done "because of great pressure".

The next part is even more stupid - the fact that Jyllands-Posten's staff hasn't been jailed has nothing to do with Islam not being approved. The blasphemy law hasn't been applied in 70 years and - believe me - in those 70 years there has been plenty of blasphemy against Christianity.

For example the Danish provocateur extraordinaire made The Return, a movie with a sexually active Jesus, who is involved in a terrorist group. Later on, Thorsen decorated the gable of a house with Jesus on the cross with a huge erection. Muslims who think Jyllands-Posten is bad, don't know how lucky they are.

It's bad enough to hear such lies and stupidity from imams - but you'd expect better from a doctor.

Abu Laban wins this months Bad Democracy Award with 91% percent of the votes - thus proving that even old-hand dictators like Uganda's Museveni were no match for him.

Needless to say, Abu Laban received his honours in recognition of his contribution to the Cartoon Jihad. The following congratulatory message was sent by mail:

31st March 2006


Ahmed Abu Laban
Det Islamiske Trossamfund I Danmark
Dortheavej 45 - 47
2400 København NV


Dear Mr Laban,

The editors of openDemocracy are delighted to inform you that you have been named Bad Democrat of the Month for March 2006.

The Bad Democracy Award is made monthly to the man, woman or institution that has made the most damaging contribution to democracy that month.

Visitors to openDemocracy’s website are invited to cast their votes for one of six candidates. You emerged victorious from a shortlist that also included Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, King Gyanendra of Nepal, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni and the Barrick Gold Corporation.

Your name will now go forward to the shortlist for the grand prize of Bad
Democrat of the Year, to be decided seven months hence.

Congratulations once more.

Yours,


Tom Burgis
Moderator
Bad Democracy Awards

As a matter of fact I voted myself. Do I know how to pick a winner, or what?

At last, the red tape has been done away with and Muslims have their own burial place in Copenhagen: Muslim Burial Place in Copenhagen (Jyllands-Posten, my translation)

"I'm very happy. The decision of the Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs shows that Denmark is a tolerant society and that Danish laws embrace the different groups of the society", says the chairman of Danish Islamic Burial-fund Kasem Ahmad, who is also media-chairman for The Danish Islamic Society.

The cemetery will be placed on a 50,000 square-meter ground along the motorway in Brøndby, which Danish Islamic Burial-fund has bought for 3,5 million kroner. [567,000 USD]

We have met Kasem Said Ahmad (picture to the right) before in this Blog. He preceded Ahmed Akkari as spokesman for The Danish Islamic Community. Kasem Said Ahmad was the spokesman who talked of appeasement in Denmark, while he was inciting his Muslim brethren in the Middle East with his fake Mohammed cartoons and assorted lies.

Kasem Said Ahmad is very happy

The article goes on:

Kasem Ahmad estimates that in the future several thousand Danish Muslims will be buried in the Copenhagen west-area.

"Every year more than 70 Muslims are flown out of the country in order to be buried in Muslim countries. In time this traffic will cease" says Kasem Ahmad.

It should be obvious that with 150,000 - 200,000 Muslims in Denmark, the number of dead each year far exceeds 70. The fact is there's nothing sensational about Muslim graveyards - the majority of dead Muslims are already being buried in their new native country, Denmark. Several churches and graveyards have large sections reserved for Muslims.

So what's wrong with these sections? The article goes on to explain:

Muslim tradition prescribes that Muslims be buried without a coffin, with the faced turned towards Mecca and in soil, where there aren't also Christians and Jews.

That's the problem for Kasem Ahmad. Once a cemetery has been Christened - once it has been used for burying unclean Christians or (horror of horrors) Jews - the soil is for ever contaminated.

Can we say racist now?

The article goes on:

The Danish Islamic Community will issue a press release Saturday to Danish and international media in order to draw attention to the fact that Danish Muslims now have their own burial place.

"After the Mohammed-conflict most people think that Muslims in Denmark are treated poorly. Maybe the news about a burial place can change this", says Kasem Ahmad.

Several Danish churchyards already have special sections which are reserved for burial of Muslims.

So Kasem Ahmad is going to issue a press release because "most people think that Muslims in Denmark are treated poorly". And why do "most people" think so? Could this have something to do with the Akkari-Laban dossier, which Kasem Ahmad has distributed in the Middle East, while telling Danes at home not to worry?

Could it have something to do with the fake Mohammed cartoons spread by Kasem Ahmad?

Could it have something to do with the lies in the dossier? The lie that Islam is not an officially recognized religion (in fact 19 different variations are recognized) - the lie that there are no mosques (there are 120 - for 150 - 200,000 Muslims)? The lie that Muslims are persecuted? The lie that Denmark will publish a censored version of the Koran? The lie that Denmark will produce a movie critical of Islam? The lie that ... well, you get my drift.

Instead of issuing another press release - why don't The Danish Islamic Community go back to their friends in the Middle East and admit that it was all a lie?

Old news

Take another look at the happy flower child. Something is wrong. This is April - and sad to say - the fields are still bare and without flowers. This must be an old photo.

In fact the story is nine years old - but there has been a lot of bargaining. Does 567,000 USD sound dirt-cheap for a 50,000 square-meter plot in Copenhagen? According to this old page from the City of Copenhagen, the original price was 22 million kroner - but then it was "re-evaluated" to 2 million kroner.

This old page (you may have to look in Google cache) is from 28. October 2004 and the title is (in Danish: "Muslims burial place ready in a year".) According the article the price for the 50,000 square-meters was 3,2 million kroner.

So lets look at the time-line:

1. 1997.xx.xx: First plans. Price for the plot is 22 million kroner.
   
2. 2004.06.09: The price is "re-evaluated from 22 millions kroner to 2 millions. An amount which magically was the same as what The Danish Islamic Community were willing to pay.
   
3. 2004.10.28: Article with headline "Muslims burial place ready in a year".
4. 2005.12.03: Kasem Said Ahmad goes to the Middle East to tell how terrible racist Denmark is and that Muslims in Denmark are treated poorly - while telling Danes at home not to worry.
   
5. 2006.04.08: (Yesterday) Everything is now in place.
   
6. 2006.04.17: The Danish Islamic Community will issue a press release, because "most people think that Muslims in Denmark are treated poorly"

Power-struggle

Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari with body guards

Let me say at once that I don't like it - not one bit. As I have written before - there's a power-struggle going on between various Danish Muslim societies. Please see what I wrote in the post about The Danish Islamic Society.

Even if The Danish Islamic Society only represent 5,000 - 10,000 Muslims (including children), they still take the rather extreme position that all Danish Muslims are members of the Society. Those "members" who dare to oppose the leaders of the Society are considered apostates, which means that they and their family are frozen out. For instance Naser Khader's nephew was fired from work, people left a party where his niece appeared, and his family has been harassed back in Syria.

In the future, extremists like Kasem Said Ahmad, Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari will be in charge of the after-life. Not only will they be able to harass living relatives of their "enemies", they will also control the dead relatives. "Wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't have room for your sainted old mother until judgement day?".

This is just a trick-photo. Akkari hasn't really been muzzled

This time Ahmed Akkari was caught lying on the TV-station Al Arabiya.

He spoke about the imam-conference in Bahrain last week and claimed (Danish text, my translation) that the Danish imams had been muzzled by the Danish Foreign Ministry, and that their freedom of expression had been reduced:

In Denmark we were prohibited to speak about the conference. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has forbidden anybody from speaking about the conference before an official translation is available.

Foreign minister Per Stig Møller denies these allegations:

This is pure nonsense. I don't recognize anything of what he says. We have not, and we haven't had, contact with the travelling imams. I'm unable to account for this.

When Akkari returned to Denmark, he claimed (stop me, if you've heard this one before) that it was a misunderstanding, "I think it was formulated wrongly. What I wanted to say, what that the subject isn't being talked about here in Denmark"

"There's a rising tendency toward self-censorship."
Mother: "But what is the matter, Mohammed?"
Mohammed: "We were told to draw each other in kindergarten and nobody dared draw me"

Rasmus Sand Høyer has made another Mohammed-drawing. Let's pray to Allah that the consequences will be less severe this time. It can't be a picnic having to live with constant death-threats, just because some thin-skinned zealots want to impose their own political agenda.

A month ago Jyllands-Posten had received 150 death threats.

Cartoon to the right:

"An Indian minister has promised 10,000,000 dollars and the assassin's weight in gold, for killing the cartoonists."
Cartoonist to his wife: "I thought you were on a diet, Darling?"

More cartoons by Rasmus Sand Høyer.

I received this email from the Western Standard.

The Western Standard was the first to republish the Danish cartoons in Canada, and this mail shows how easy it is to stiffle free speech - using your tax money:

Dear Western Standard reader,

Our magazine has been sued for publishing the Danish cartoons, and I need your help to fight back!

As you know, the Western Standard was the only mainstream media organ in Canada to publish the Danish cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed.

We did so for a simple reason: the cartoons were the central fact in one of the largest news stories of the year, and we're a news magazine. We publish the facts and we let our readers make up their minds.

Advertisers stood with us. Readers loved the fact that we treated them like grown-ups. And we earned the respect of many other journalists in Canada who envied our independence. In fact, according to a COMPAS poll last month, fully 70% of Canada's working journalists supported our decision to publish the cartoons.

But not Syed Soharwardy, a radical Calgary Muslim imam.

He asked the police to arrest me for publishing the cartoons. They calmly explained to him that's not what police in Canada do.

So then he went to a far less liberal institution than the police: the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Unlike the Calgary Police Service, they didn't have the common sense to show him the door.

Earlier this month, I received a copy of Soharwardy's rambling, hand-scrawled complaint. It is truly an embarrassing document. He briefly complains that we published the Danish cartoons. But the bulk of his complaint is that we dared to try to justify it - that we dared to disagree with him.

Think about that: In Soharwardy's view, not only should the Canadian media be banned from publishing the cartoons, but we should be banned from defending our right to publish them. Perhaps the Charter of Rights that guarantees our freedom of the press should be banned, too.

Soharwardy's complaint goes further than just the cartoons. It refers to news articles we published about Hamas, a group labelled a terrorist organization by the Canadian government. By including those other articles, he shows his real agenda: censoring any criticism of Muslim extremists.

Perhaps the most embarrassing thing about Soharwardy's complaint is that he claims our cartoons caused him to receive hate mail. Indeed, his complaint includes copies of a few e-mails from strangers to him. Some of those e-mails even go so far as to call him "humourless" and tell him to "lighten up". Perhaps that's hateful. But all of those e-mails were sent to him before our magazine even published the cartoons. Soharwardy isn't even pretending that this is a legitimate complaint. He's not even trying to hide that this is a nuisance suit.

Soharwardy's complaint should have been thrown out immediately by the Alberta Human Rights Commission, just like the police did. But it wasn't. Which is why I'm writing to you today.

According to our lawyers, we will win this case. It's an infantile complaint, without basis in facts or law. Frankly, it's an embarrassment to the government of Alberta that their tribunal is open to abuse like this.

Our lawyers tell us we're going to win. But not before we have to spend hundreds of hours and up to $75,000 fighting this thing, at our own expense. Soharwardy doesn't have to spend a dime - now that his complaint has been filed, Alberta tax dollars will pay for the prosecution of his complaint. We have to pay for this on our own.

Look, $75,000 isn't going to bankrupt us. But it will sting. We're a small, independent magazine, not a huge company with deep pockets. All of our money is needed to produce the best possible editorial product, not to fight legal battles. This is clearly an abuse of process designed to punish us and deter other media from daring to cross that angry imam in the future.

One of the leaders in Canadian human rights law, Alan Borovoy, was so disturbed by Soharwardy's abuse of the human rights commission that he wrote a public letter about it in the Calgary Herald on March 16th. "During the years when my colleagues and I were labouring to create such commissions, we never imagined that they might ultimately be used against freedom of speech," wrote Borovoy, who is general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Censorship was "hardly the role we had envisioned for human rights commissions. There should be no question of the right to publish the impugned cartoons," he wrote.

Borovoy went even further - he said that the human rights laws should be changed to avoid this sort of abuse in the future. "It would be best, therefore, to change the provisions of the Human Rights Act to remove any such ambiguities of interpretation," he wrote. That's an amazing statement, coming from one of the fathers of the Canadian human rights movement.

I agree with Borovoy: the law should be changed to stop future abuses. But those changes will come too late for us - we're already under attack. The human rights laws, designed as a shield, are being used against us as a sword.

We will file our legal response to Soharwardy's shakedown this week. And we will fight this battle to the end - not just for our own sake, but to defend freedom of the press for all Canadians.

Do you believe that's important? If so, I'd ask you to help us defray our costs. We're accepting donations through our website. It's fast, easy and secure. Just click on http://www.westernstandard.ca/freedom

You can donate any amount from $10 to $10,000. Please help the Western Standard today - and protect freedom for all Canadians for years to come.

Yours gratefully,

Ezra Levant
Publisher

P.S. Remember, Soharwardy's complaint will be prosecuted using tax dollars and government lawyers. We have to rely on our own funds - and the generous support of readers like you.

P.P.S. Please help us now, at http://www.westernstandard.ca/freedom

Reuters had an article last year that still survives on a few blogs: A number of people of foreign origin sing the praises of Denmark, which was so sweet - until:

"The Nordic (region) is the best place to practice our religion," said Abukar, who has lived in Finland for 10 years. He also praised the region's welfare system, which ensures a good level of education and health care for all.

But the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and July bombings in London, as well as other action by extremist Islamists, have soured attitudes toward the minority faith among the predominantly Lutheran populations of Europe's north.

"People mind their own business, but sometimes, if people know you're Muslim, there are all kinds of accusations," said denim-clad Mahmoud, offering a can of Mecca-Cola. He says he is tired of always being on the defensive.

Racist attacks in Denmark -- which has detained eight Muslims under its anti-terrorism law since September -- grew by a third in the first eight months this year, compared to 2004.

The story is often repeated in Danish media: "Racist attacks are growing in Denmark", or so it goes, "the numbers have more than doubled from 32 in 2004 to 81 in 2005". This "fact" is often repeated - and the rising number is associated with right-wing extremists and "the tone" in the debate.

Number of report to PET of Racist and religious attacks

And yet, this graph to the right (taken from Danish television) clearly shows a fall in the number of reports. How can this be? If you can read Danish, I recommend that you go to Uriasposten - because most of the present page is just a summary.

Let's look at an article from May 2005: Investigates extent of racist crime (Danish text, my translation)

The Danish Security Intelligence Service (PET) will investigate, whether the country's police districts are sufficiently diligent when reporting racist or religious attacks to the service.

"The Danish Security Intelligence Service estimates that it is very uncertain, whether the reported figures reflect the real number of racist inspired criminal cases," writes Minister of Justice, Lene Espersen, in a series of replies to Enhedslisten's integration-spokesman, Jørgen Arbo-Bæhr.

Thus PET received 32 reports in 2004 as opposed to 53 in 2003 and 65 in 2002 - while there were no less that 95 reports in 2001.

Police districts has since 1992 been ordered to report attacks, which might conceivably have racist background and which are perpetrated against foreigners.

An ordinance which in 2001 was expanded to also included possible religious attacks - and irrespective of whether the assaults are against a person or interest of Danish or foreign origin.

In spite of this, the number of reports peaked with 166 in 1993.

So what does this article say?

• The number of racist attacks peaked in 1993 with 166 offenses.
  
• The number keeps falling and in 2001, the scope of attacks to be reported is expanded to include offenses based on religion - and offenses against ethnic Danes.
  
• In spite of the expanded scope, the number still keeps falling to 95 in 2001, 65 in 2002, 53 in 2003 and 32 in 2004.
  
• The Minister of Justice wants to be sure there are no "dark numbers" i.e. cases that were not reported - after all 32 is very low.
  
• With increased attention, the numbers begin to rise, but are still much lower than 10 years ago.

But 81 attacks - or even 32 - are still too much, you might say. Even one attack is one attack too much.

Of course it is, but let's take a look at some these incidents: PET has published summaries (PDF-files in Danish) for 2004 and 2005:

14. December 2004: Report against a TV-company for breaking the penal code section § 266 b [racism], since the TV-company had broadcast the murdered Dutch director Theo van Gogh's movie "Submission".

Showing a movie which is critical of Islam is considered a "racist attack"! I wonder if killing Theo van Gogh could also be considered a racist attack? The thing with Submission is the same as with the Danish cartoons. Once they become attacked by zealots, they become news.

18. April 2005: A person of Somali origin reported that a Somali club room had been subject to wanton destruction when an unknown perpetrator had broken a window pane.

We don't know why the window was broken and by whom. But since the victim is Somali, the incident is reported as a racist attack.

Some of the attacks are done by Muslims, against Danes, Jews and Apostates:

11. November 2004 a journalist reported having received a letter saying among other "You are a Danish-whore" ... "if you don't behave yourself, you'll get an Arab-circumcised cock in your whore-ass" ... "So don't ever criticise Islam again and get the fuck out of our quarter, which is now Islamic territory and not Danish".

23. April 2005 a person of non-Danish origin, who had converted from Islam to Christianity, received a letter from unknown persons, which had threats in Arabic. Among others that "he who turns his back on Islam shall be killed."

3. February 2005 a person of non-Danish origin received a letter signed "Hizb-Ut-Tahrir", which contained an exhortation to join Hizb-Ut-Tahrir or otherwise no longer be considered a believer, but an apostate, who will burn in Hell with all the dirty Infidel swine".

So the lesson is: If you're Danish, don't report racist attacks to the police, because a rise in numbers will "prove" that Denmark is full of jack-booted skinheads. In fact: Be vewy, vewy qwuiet.

Just as you thought our minister of foreign affairs was doing fine - comes this appalling expression of dhimmitude.

Denmark must be very, very quiet (Danish text, registration required)

There's a deep concern in the ministry of foreign affairs that the conflict between Denmark and the Muslim world because of the Muhammed-cartoons may explode again. This is also the background for [foreign minister] Per Stig Møller's appeal to Denmark to show its best good will to solve the conflict and avoid provocations.

[. . .]

The conflict can be rekindled, with new demonstrations and attacks on Danish institutions in the Middle East, because there are governments and other players in the area, who can use the crisis with Denmark to harness and exploit political and religious indignation.

Denmark will for a long time still need support from our allies in EU and from America in order to avoid - for instance - a total trade embargo. But this support will only be there if Denmark itself acts constructively in the crisis through dialogue with the Muslim world.

Or in other words, Denmark will have to tread carefully and diplomatically - and to give in, in the next couple of months - both in relation to the Muslim world and in relation to our Western partners.

In an interview with Berlingske Søndag, the foreign minister Per Stig Møller emphasized, that Denmark can handle a prolonged conflict with the Mohammed-cartoons, as long as we have support from the rest of Europe and the USA.

»As long as Denmark displays a constructive and active attitude, so long will the support from EU be there. Because we have shown that we are doing what we can« he said, and stated it strictly necessary that Denmark continues the dialogue with the Muslim world - also with the imams, who sharply have criticised Denmark.

Eurabia seriously needs to wake up: This is not a "conflict between Denmark and the Muslim world". It's political Islam attacking the Western world and trying to silence its opponents.

For months, British and American mainstream media have been too scared respectful to re-publish the Danish cartoons. But now, The New Individualist will put the most controversial Mohamed cartoon on their front page.



The editor explains his reasons in the comment section in his own blog:

[. . .]You are concerned about my publishing the cartoons as being provocative to Muslim sensitivities. Funny thing: Did the mainstream press hesitate for a split second about publishing the Abu Ghraib prison photos? Did they worry then about Muslim opinion, or about "inviting trouble and inflaming an already tense situation"?

I wonder: Did YOU protest those photographs, which continue to be displayed 24/7 by the mainstream media, as they have been for months? Did you write any letters to the editor of any major publication? Did you e-mail CNN with indignant messages of protest?

Or is your gripe about this exercise of free expression not one of principle, but simply a complaint about WHAT is being expressed?

You ask what I wish to achieve. What I wish to achieve is very simple: I wish to make it clear to ANYONE who tries to intimidate journalists with death threats for publishing, or saying, or showing some "offensive" opinion or image that COERCION WON'T WORK. Some of us, at least, will NOT be intimidated into silence by fanatics. I don't care if it's Muslims, the KKK, street gangs, or Presidents trying to shut me up. The PRINCIPLE at stake here is that COERCION AND INTIMIDATION are not going to be the official currency of public discussion.

Not here.

Not in America.

Not while this writer still breathes.

It's not about Muhammad or Muslims, my friend. It's about the First Amendment. You may have heard of it. In fact, you may still be able to look it up online.

And if my colleagues and I have our way, you always will.

Hat tip to Sugiero: Most polemic Mohamed cartoon.

Added: I forgot that this is not the first time. In fact The Intellectual Activist not only featured Kurt Westergård's cartoon on the front-page, but the re-printed all twelve of them.



The Intellectual Activist explained their reasons for publishing the cartoons:

The central issue of the "cartoon jihad"—the Muslim riots and death threats against a Danish newspaper that printed 12 cartoons depicting Mohammed—is obvious. The issue is freedom of speech: whether our freedom to think, write, and draw is to be subjugated to the "religious sensitivities" of anyone who threatens us with force.

That is why it is necessary for every newspaper and magazine to re-publish those cartoons, as I will do in the next print issue of The Intellectual Activist.

This is not merely a symbolic expression of support; it is a practical countermeasure against censorship. Censorship—especially the violent, anarchic type threatened by Muslim fanatics—is effective only when it can isolate a specific victim, making him feel as if he alone bears the brunt of the danger. What intimidates an artist or writer is not simply some Arab fanatic in the street carrying a placard that reads "Behead those who insult Islam." What intimidates him is the feeling that, when the beheaders come after him, he will be on his own, with no allies or defenders—that everyone else will be too cowardly to stick their necks out.

The answer, for publishers, is to tell the Muslim fanatics that they can't single out any one author, or artist, or publication. The answer is to show that we're all united in defying the fanatics.

That's what it means to show "solidarity" by re-publishing the cartoons. The message we need to send is: if you want to kill anyone who publishes those cartoons, or anyone who makes cartoons of Mohammed, then you're going to have to kill us all. If you make war on one independent mind, you're making war on all of us. And we'll fight back.

This observation is very perceptive, since the Danish imams have since admitted on candid camera that they were deliberately singling out Jyllands-Posten in order to crush them.

Immediately following UN's poster-fiasco, a new scandal pops up.

UN's Special Rapporteur, Doudou Diéne, had leaked a report where he calls Danes Racists and Xenophobes.

It now turns out that Mr. Doudou Diéne has never visited Denmark before writing his report. Danish foreign minister, Per Stig Møller, says (Danish text, my translation) "UN's Special Rapporteur on racism and intolerance, Doudou Diéne, before producing the report, has neither visited Denmark nor consulted the Danish government.". The report was never sent to the Danish government, and no reaction was asked for.

This explains the very strange description that Mr. Diéne has of the cartoons. From Agora's translation:

This newspaper published, September 30, 2005, 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed. Inter alia, three of these caricatures show: the head of the Prophet wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb with a lit wick, the Prophet in the likeness of a devil holding in his hand a grenade, and the Prophet offering virgin girls to committers of suicide bombings.

The first part is true - everybody has seen the cartoon with the bomb-shaped turban.

But the cartoon with "the Prophet in the likeness of a devil" is one of the fake Mohammed cartoons made by the Danish imams. And this devil doesn't have a grenade in his hand.

The third one is wrong too: "the Prophet offering virgin girls". The whole point of Jens-Julius' cartoon is that the Prophet is not offering virgins. "Stop, stop. We have run out of virgins."

So not only has Doudou Diéne not visited Denmark and not consulted the Danish government, but he hasn't even seen the cartoons he's condemning.

If you want to write a UN report about a foreign country, you have to visit it, Mr. Diéne. Don't Doudou this at home.

The crazy cartoonist was a silent Danish comic strip from the 50'ies. The main character was a penciller, who could draw objects and make them become real.

The crazy cartoonist by Jørgen Mogensen

Cartoonist Ivar Gjørup (alias Olfax) has made a grim tribute to the old master - and he writes (my translation):

I'm siding with the twelve good Danish cartoonists, who are now - along with the rest of us - forcibly committed to a power game, which we have had nothing to do with, home and abroad. And I'm siding with the offended believers, whose feelings are being exploited in the same power game, greatly endangering the inhabitants of the Earth – from all faiths.

Ivar Gjørup is the creator of the comic strip Egoland, which is in my opinion the world's best strip, but - alas - untranslatable. Gjørup also writes (Danish text, my translation):

In these crazy times, our worst fear has become reality. We have created our own bogeyman-image, and it's the bogeyman-image that's killing us.

See Ivar Gjørup's own page for sample of the vintage Crazy Cartoonist.

It's been a confusing weekend. Ahmed Akkari was caught on candid camera making death threats against Syrian-born MP Naser Khader, but now he claims it was only a joke. And we all know how much Akkari loves a little joke.

"Taking fun as simply fun, and earnestness in earnest shows how thoroughly thou none, of the two discernest." (Piet Hein) Akkari with a cartoon of Khader: "But this here is only a joke." Cartoon by Rasmus Sand Høyer

Khader was reported to have had a break-down and to have gone under ground, but according to his own homepage (Danish text): "There's a lot of speculation about my situation right now. But let me make it clear: I have not gone under ground and neither have I broken down. I need to collect myself after several months of stress, and I need to be together with my family."

On the same candid camera, Abu Laban was quoted for talking about a `Martyr Action' Plot

Danish imam Abu Laban made the comments to an associate in Arabic in front of a French cameraman they knew didn't understand the language, Danmarks Radio said. The conversation was recorded by a hidden camera, the broadcaster said. In the conversation, Laban talks of a person who ``will create complete havoc and conduct a martyr act,'' Danmarks Radio reported, without specifying whether the threats were made against a particular country.

However, the double-tounged imam was able to explain it all in a tour-de-force of double-talk: Martyr-action is just an expression (Danish text, my translation):

Reporter: According to the TV-clip, you said he would wreak havoc?

Abu Laban: That is to make a story out of nothing. If your son is insubordinate and don't want to sleep or go to school, you may say, you'll break his neck if he doesn't do as you tell him. But that's just an expression one employs.

Reporter: You used the word martyr-action. That sounds as a terror-action?

Abu Laban: But if the television had consulted me beforehand, we wouldn't have had to discuss it here. Then the case would have been closed.

Reporter: So you can say with certainty that it wasn't a terror-action he was talking about?

Abu Laban: Would you invite people to discuss terror on a cafe? There was a journalist from France. Everything was open. Nothing was secret. There is no reason to exaggerate the meaning.

An Indian minister has promised 10,000,000 dollars and the assassin's weight in gold, for killing the cartoonists. Cartoonist's wife: "Can I be sure that the man really has the money?" Cartoon by Rasmus Sand Høyer

Reporter: But isn't a martyr-action a terror-action?

Abu Laban: If one says one wants to »blow up this meeting«, it means that one wants to stop the meeting. Not that one wants to explode people. I'm not a terrorist. The media should stop this. Everything is being translated as if we work with terror, and that isn't true.

Reporter: If this had been about a terror-action, what expression would you have used then?

Abu Laban: If we are told about this kind of things, we know who are in charge of security in Denmark - that's the police - and then they would be informed.

Reporter: Did you consider informing the police at that time?

Abu Laban: There is no terrorist. This is fantasy and an illusion of what can be heard on the tape.

Reporter: What happened to the person you spoke about. Did he get a meeting with Amr Moussa?

Abu Laban: I have tried to ask other people about this, but there are so many people who have went to Egypt, so I don't know.

Reporter: From where had you heard about this person?

Abu Laban: We are so many people who hear so much.

Reporter: Did you think, that what he was going to do, was a good idea?

Abu Laban: That's people's own business. Why should I interfere? This is a free country and people can do as they please and meet whom they want to. Everybody has been much engaged since the cartoons were published.

Reporter: What was the name of the person you spoke of?

Abu Laban: Believe me: I have just returned. I don't recall. I'm trying to remember. Maybe, when I see the clip from TV, it will appear to me.

Confused? Well, yet another spokesman for The Danish Islamic Community, this time it was Kasem Said, said that Akkari was removed as spokesman. On the other hand Akkari said to Jyllands-Posten (March 26, page 4) that he's still spokesman. On the other hand (or is it third hand) I stumbled over this interview where Akkari denies being an imam:

Q: I have read you are an imam?

A: No, I am a spokesman for 27 organisations. I am a Danish citizen, I have some theological background, but I am educated in sociology and pedagogy.

And don't get me started on the conference in Bahrain - and which imam wanted to stop the boycott and which imam wanted to continue it and whether the conference was a success.

The French/Algerian journalist, Mohammed Sifaoui, known as the man who got inside al-Qa'eda, has interviewed the Danish imams. What they didn't know was, that they were also filmed with a hidden camera, which made some of their statements more - candid. (Danish article)

For instance Imam Shaykh Raed Hlayhel admits they are deliberately working to single out Jyllands-Posten, instead of trying to debate with other newspapers that have published Mohammed-drawings: "I think that the pressure should be maintained in order to create a climate of hate against the newspaper, God willing".

Ahmed Akkari said about Naser Khader, member of the Danish Parliament and founder of Democratic Muslims: "If one day he should become minister for immigrants or integration, shouldn't one then send over two guys to blow up him and his ministry?"

At the end of the session, Abu Zakaria, who's apparently Abu Laban's assistant, threatens the French journalists (without knowing about the hidden camera):

I warn you that if there's anything negative in what you have filmed or what you're going to write, it wouldn't be good for you or your friends. This is just a piece of advice I give you and your friends. It is necessary that you bring a positive image of us, and not something that is against us. I prefer to express myself clearly.

This "advice" was not really necessary, since Mohammed Sifaoui is already living under police protection and has done so for three years.

Today Ahmed Akkari denies ever having been together with Shaykh Raed Hlayhel and a French journalist, and says: "I have never said such about Naser Khader, but they shall be welcome to prove it".

This is exactly what French TV2 intends to do tonight.

"to blow up him and his ministry?"

Added: Danish TV2 has contacted Akkari, who at the moment is in Bahrain.

Akkari initially said that he had never been in a car with a French journalist and dared anybody to prove it. Now, that it has been proved, he remembers the situation, but claims it was a jest.

Akkari has written an open letter (Danish text) to Naser Khader, where he assures Khader that it was only a crude joke. He then proceeds to teach Khader: "In Denmark there's a tradition for humour, sarcasm, irony and jest - and I have often heard the same kind of playful remarks from different sides. Not just from Muslims."

This is truly astounding news: Akkari and 5 other Danish Imams are currently attending a conference in Bahrain, where they'll decide what "punishment" they are going to mete out on Denmark in return for 12 innocuous cartoons published half a year ago! 1,6 billion Muslims (has anybody noticed, how the number is constantly rising?) have been deadly insulted!

That's right, Akkari: "In Denmark there's a tradition for humour, sarcasm, irony and jest".

Added: Naser Khader has gone into hiding. The most of the day, he has been too shocked to give a statement - and now he's gone underground and is considering resigning from politics. He's no longer sure it's worth the risk.

Added: I just saw the French program on Danish TV2. Most of the program is a sober-minded round-up of the Cartoon Jihad, the contents of which would not come as a surprise, if you have followed the blogosphere.

The threats against Khader are much discussed in the media, but I predict it will all come to nothing. It will be hard for a prosecutor to prove Akkari wasn't joking with his friends.

The most interesting part, IMHO, is how they admit to having targeted Jyllands-Posten in their campaign and how they have singled Jyllands-Posten out. Apparently there's old hate behind it - the imams didn't like it when Jyllands-Posten wrote about the Danish Guantanamo prisoner, Slimane Abderahmane and his connections with the mosque on Grimhøjvej, Århus.

For instance, Abu Laban repeats that the cartoons in Weekendavisen were worse that those in Jyllands-posten. This claim sounds odd to me, since those cartoons are not really about Mohammed, but the Imams are apparently earnest. The journalist then asks the logical question, why they don't target Weekendavisen - and are told, "We have concentrated on the source of the problem, i.e. Jyllands-posten and not Weekendavisen. The primary problem comes from Jyllands-posten".

Another revelation is when Akkari discusses how Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen have regretted the cartoons. He thinks the government should send this apology to all "Muslim countries". And the reason for this is not that Akkari wants to comfort the tormented souls of 1,6 billion offended Muslims. Akkari's cold and cynical reasoning is that the words of the apology will remove all political support for Jyllands-Posten.

Mohammed Sifaoui's final conclusion is that Abu Laban belongs to an extreme branch of political Islam, and that the group of Danish imams have used the caricature-case in an attempt to force their their laws, rules and doctrines on the European society.

---

I won't be blogging for the next 36 hours or so, so check Agora for updates.

The Swedish foreign minister has resigned. Not only did she break the Swedish "Grundlag" (=Constitution) - she also lied about it and denied it. The latter part was quite embarrassing, since she had a month earlier written to Yemen and bragged about having closed the "offending" web-site (Yemen Observer, February 15th):

Abu Baker Al-Qirbi, the Minister of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs, received on Tuesday a letter from the Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds, related to the insulting cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), Saba news reported.

The Swedish minister expressed her disapproval and sadness at the republication of the cartoons on a right-wing extremist group's website, adding that the Swedish government had closed the site.
Al-Qirbi also received a telephone call from Ekmeladdin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

You may wonder what terrible things the web-site had done to make the foreign minister take such drastic steps. Well, Sweden shuts website over cartoon

He had asked readers to send in their own Muhammad cartoons, but he denies intending to offend Muslims.

Mohammedan self-censorship There may be a pun in Mohammedan / Mohamme-Danish

His website briefly posted a picture showing Muhammad from the rear, looking into a mirror, with his eyes blacked out - an image he said was about self-censorship.

"It was directed at the Swedish government and Swedish magazines," Jomshof said.

"They are cowards for not standing by the Danish people and Jyllands-Posten [Danish newspaper which first published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad last year]."

Muslims around the world have demonstrated against the cartoons since they were republished in a number of European newspapers at the end of January.

Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds described Kuriren's move as "a provocation" by "a small group of extremists".

"I will defend freedom of the press no matter what the circumstances, but I strongly condemn the provocation by SD-Kuriren. It displays a complete lack of respect," she said in a statement.

That's it: A few cartoons, including a new one, which makes an allusion to self-censorship. Notice that when Laila Freivald speaks of "extremists", she doesn't mean the rioters, who issue death threats, but a harmless cartoonist. And notice that Laila Freivald vows to "defend freedom of the press no matter what the circumstances" - unless someone actually uses their speech.

The web-site was closed, but soon reopened on a new server. However, the new site does not show the cartoons.

Later, Sweden closed down one more web-site although it's not clear how much the government was involved in this case.

You may wonder, how things could get so bad. Brussels Journal has an article about the state of affairs in Scandinavia: When Danes Pay Danegeld – Dealing with Islam in Scandinavia. The article is written by Fjordman, who used to have his own blog, where he has written about Norway and Sweden

The Danish company, Lego, was rather surprised to see their famous (and trademarked) bricks used in a poster about racism. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights made the picture to the right - with a Lego brick, red as the Danish flag.

Lego weren't sure how to interpret it. Is Lego one of the "many shapes that racism can take"? Lego were also wondering why they hadn't been approached by the UN in advance, since Lego has earlier cooperated with the UN about a campaign. Lego complains about UN anti-racism poster.

“We feel that the message of this poster can be interpreted as if we are a racist company,” Lego spokeswoman Charlotte Simonsen said in Copenhagen.

“I don’t know if that’s what’s intended, but it’s definitely one way of interpreting it.”

The Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said no affiliation to Lego was intended and apologised for the misunderstanding.

Lego can be racist Titus 2:9 Slaves must be obedient to their masters in everything, and do what is wanted without argument. The Brick Testament, the Epistles of Paul

“The poster is in no way a comment on the specific situation in Denmark or on Lego. It is unfortunate that the poster has been interpreted as such, Diaz said.”

The Danish ministry of foreign affairs contacted the High Commission, who promised to remove the poster from the web-page and their building Tuesday evening. A spokesman for the UN claims that this has been the intention from the beginning.

The poster is very ambiguous. Is Lego/Denmark supposed to be racist? Or is the other way around? The poster shows 11 identical, black jigsaw pieces - locked together and keeping the single red brick out. Maybe they represent the 11 dark medieval repressive countries, who tried to impose their Racist Sharia-laws on the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen?

The Battle of Khartoon claims another victim - Swedish foreign minister, Laila Freivalds, quits:

Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds has resigned, said Prime Minister Göran Persson at a press conference at Rosenbad on Tuesday morning.

[. . .]

In recent days her position became untenable as it emerged that that she knew that a foreign ministry official contacted the internet hosting company which later closed the web site of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraternas).

Her resignation is a consequence of her having closed a web-site, which featured the twelve Mohammed cartoons, and then lying about it:

"We cannot have a foreign minister that does not tell the truth," said Christian Democrat leader Göran Hägglund.

The forced closure of the Sweden Democrats' site on February 9th, after pictures of the prophet Muhammad had been published on it, was strongly criticised at the time. A foreign ministry official contacted the hosting company, Levonline, as did Sweden's security police, Säpo.

Amid allegations of state censorship, prime minister Göran Persson publicly slammed the civil servant behind the move.

"However strong his personal reasons may be, with a political position as adviser in the foreign ministry he should refrain from this sort of activity," said Persson to TT.

Freivalds defended the foreign ministry's contact with Levonline and said that it had simply been to inform the company of the consequences of publishing the pictures.

At the same time, Freivalds denied that she had known of the contact in advance.

That claim has now been contradicted in a statement sent by Carl Henrik Ehrenkrona, the head of the foreign ministry's legal department, to the Chancellor of Justice, who is investigating whether the official was guilty of misconduct.

"On February 8th an official in the department, after consultation with the foreign minister, contacted the company which hosted the web site," wrote Ehrenkrona, according to the publication Riksdag & Departement.

Ehrenkrona said that point had not been for the official to pressurize the hosting company, but to offer information about the situation.

In the statement, Ehrenkrona said that there was therefore no reason to criticise the foreign ministry official for what happened.

Swedish government bodies are banned in the constitution from getting involved in what newspapers, including web-based newspapers, write.