An Israeli newspaper is reporting that the Swedish Muslim Brotherhood group planning protests over the latest cartoon crisis has said it plans to sue the local newspaper which published a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body. As a previous post has reported, the paper printed the cartoon, part of a series made by a Swedish artist , after Swedish art galleries had declined to display them. The latest report cites Mahmoud Aldebe, identified as the chairman of the Swedish Muslim Federation, as saying that the lawsuit would be based on the incitement of hatreds against ethnic groups:
“It ridicules our religion. This is discriminating and insulting… they want to see just how far they are able to go by pushing the boundaries of press freedom,” he said.
The earlier post also reported on the background of the “Swedish Muslim Federation”, also translated in media reports as “Swedish Muslim Association, which is likely likely the Sveriges muslimska rÃ¥d (SMC) headed by Mr. Aldebe. Other media reporting indicates that Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan have made official protests over the cartoon in a Swedish newspaper and that the Organization of the Islamic Conference has also condemned the publication and urged the Swedish government to punish the artist and the publisher and demanded an apology. The Muslim World League, a very influential Saudi religious body within the Muslim Brotherhood global network, has also issued a strong statement condemning the cartoon. Unlike the recent Danish cartoon crisis, however, this was only one cartoon printed by one local newspaper and the cartoon did not portray the Prophet as a terrorist. It is unlikely then that this crisis will generate the same degree of worldwide protest.