Denmark faces human rights court over cartoons

A network of Danish Muslim organisations will bring Denmark before an international human rights court for not pressing charges against the newspaper that first published the contentious Prophet Mohammed cartoons, Danish radio reported today.

The 27 Muslim groups said they would file a complaint against Denmark at “the human rights court” to determine the balance between freedom of speech and freedom of religion, national broadcaster DR reported.

It was not immediately clear to which court the group was referring.

Denmark’s top prosecutor said he would not charge the newspaper Jyllands-Posten because the drawings did not violate Denmark’s laws against blasphemous and racist speech.

The 12 drawings, one of which shows Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb, were published in Jyllands-Posten on September 30 last year.

The cartoons, which were reprinted in European and American papers in January and February, sparked a wave of protests around the Islamic world. Protesters were killed in some of the most violent demonstrations and several European embassies were attacked.

A boycott on Danish goods started in Saudi Arabia on January 26 and spread to dozens of Muslim countries.

Sunni Muslim tradition bans any image of the prophet, since depicting him risks insulting him or encouraging idolatry.