Danish Video Sparks Fresh Outrage

Saeed Al-Abyad, Arab News

JEDDAH, 8 October 2006 — The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) yesterday said it will demand an explanation from the Danish government for the state TV’s broadcasting of a video mocking the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Danish state TV on Friday aired amateur video footage showing a number of members of the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples’ Party (DPP) at a summer camp in August drinking, singing and engaging in a competition to draw humiliating images of the Prophet.A source at the 57-member OIC said the group will try to “find out the reasons behind the repeated ridiculing of the Prophet in Denmark” and warned that the incident would have dangerous repercussions.The OIC reacted to the latest outrage as Muslim leaders in Denmark condemned the screening of the video, but said they would not be goaded into taking action.

In September last year Danish daily Jyllands-Posten published cartoons, including one showing the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban. Muslims denounced them as blasphemous, sparking protests early this year in which more than 50 people died in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.“Against the background of the problems earlier, we have to be careful,” said Ahmed Abu-Laban, a Copenhagen imam who helped organize a trip to Egypt and Lebanon last year to rally support among Muslim leaders for protests against those drawings.“This time it’s a different situation. Of course it’s deplorable, but we all know the attitude the DPP has toward Muslims and Islam and these pictures were never intended for publication,” he said.

Abu-Laban said he regretted the Danish TV’s decision to air the footage saying it raised ethical questions. “We’ve been working very hard to resolve the problems since the conflict earlier this year.”Yildiz Akdogan, spokeswoman for Democratic Muslims, a pro-integration group formed in the aftermath of the protests against the cartoons in February, said she was glad other parties had condemned the actions. “I think the events are too stupid and too absurd to provoke demonstrations or other actions from Muslims,” she said. “Of course it’s not a good thing and definitely does not make building bridges any easier, but I hope it won’t have any lasting effect.”Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood condemned the video. “The Muslim Brotherhood denounces this repetition of acts (hostile to Islam) in the West and calls on Muslims to defend their religion in this sacred month” of Ramadan, a statement said. It called for a boycott of products from countries that “permit these sort of acts,” for peaceful protests and for international legislation banning such “attacks.

BRITISH DAILIES SUPPORT STRAWS COMMENT ON VEIL SUN WROTE

"But Straw’s “constructive observations about veils have sparked an absurd overreaction from some Muslims for whom even the mildest criticism of any aspect of their religion amounts to a declaration of war.”Several newspapers said Straw, 60, a skilled diplomat and experienced politician, representing a town with a significant Muslim minority, was just the sort of carefully-worded man who could launch such a topic.The Times newspaper said “community relations might be improved by genuine face-to-face contact,” adding that the veil “precludes a basic form of human contact in a way which the Sikh turban or the Buddhist robe” does not.The Daily Telegraph said Straw had “touched a raw nerve” by focusing on such an emblematic symbol of Muslim life but that “integration can’t be achieved behind the veil.

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