AARHUS, Denmark — An appeals court in Denmark has voided a lawsuit against the newspaper that was the first to print controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
The Western High Court in Aarhus said June 19 that critics did not prove that the Jyllands-Posten newspaper was trying to depict Muslims as terrorists or criminals when it printed the cartoons.
One of the drawings that most fueled controversy showed the Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. Islamic law prohibits any depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
The court, 125 miles northwest of Copenhagen, upheld a lower court ruling from last year that rejected claims by Danish Muslims that the caricatures were intended to mock Islam and insult the prophet. The daily newspaper has apologized and said it did not intend to offend Muslims, but stands by its decision to print the cartoons. Mohammed Nehme, a spokesman for Islamic Faith Community, which was one of several groups that appealed the lower court ruling, said his organization had not decided whether to appeal the new court decision.
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