“Sheikh’s plea to Australian media,” from AAP:
A SENIOR Islamic cleric has called on Australia’s media not to publish the cartoons which have sparked riots across the Muslim world.
Sheikh Fehmi El-Imam, the general secretary of the Board of Imams of Victoria, warned reprinting the cartoons here could “disturb people who can do things that we don’t want them to do“.
Hmmm. Is that a veiled threat?
“In some parts of the world there is rioting against the Danish and the Dutch, we don’t want that in Australia,” the sheikh said today…
No, we certainly wouldn’t want that in Australia, but is the answer to appease Muslims by not printing the cartoons, or is the answer for Muslims to restrain their own actions regardless of how they feel? I believe that to be the bare minimum required of a civilized society.
Meanwhile, according to the Sydney Morning Herald:
The Dominion Post and the Christchurch Press both published controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammad yesterday, upsetting New Zealand Muslims, who say it could cost New Zealand $100 million in lost trade deals. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedly said he would review all economic relations with countries where the cartoons had been published.
[NZ] Prime Minister Helen Clark has slammed as gratuitous the decision by two New Zealand newspapers to publish cartoons which have enraged the Muslim world…