Following the inflammatory remarks made by Saudi Arabian cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, last week over the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, the BBC is reporting that Denmark has advised citizens against travel to Saudi Arabia.

The Danish foreign ministry advised against non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia and urged Danes to be cautious in other Muslim countries.

“Danes who choose to stay in Saudi Arabia should show extraordinarily high watchfulness,” it said on its website.

As noted earlier, Saudi Arabia has recalled it’s ambassador to Denmark and Libya has leapt on the bandwagon by closing its embassy in Copenhagen.

And, following Monday’s raid on the EU office in Gaza, and a threat from the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the Danish Red Cross has pulled two employees out of the area.

In related news, Reuters reports that a bomb threat against the Danish embassy in Damascus forced staff to evacuate the building on Wednesday while security personnel cordoned off streets and searched the complex.

Earlier this week the Syrian Foreign Ministry jumped on the bandwagon by condemning the cartoons and demanding that he Danish government punish Jyllands-Posten - which Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has repeatedly explained that he cannot do - even if he wanted to - because Denmark is a democracy.

And finally, the Die Welt blog has published a translation of Jyllands-Posten editor, Carsten Juste’s letter expressing regret at the offence taken and attempting to set the record straight regarding both the dishonest claims made by Danish Muslim leaders touring the Islamic world and the aims and values of the paper.

Honourable Citizens of The Muslim World

Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten is a strong proponent of democracy and freedom of religion. The newspaper respects the right of any human being to practise his or her religion. Serious misunderstandings in respect of some drawings of the Prophet Mohammed have led to much anger and, lately, also boycott of Danish goods in Muslim countries.

Please allow me to correct these misunderstandings.

On 30 September last year, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten published 12 different cartoonists’ idea of what the Prophet Mohammed might have looked like. The initiative was taken as part of an ongoing public debate on freedom of expression, a freedom much cherished in Denmark.

In our opinion, the 12 drawings were sober. They were not intended to be offensive, nor were they at variance with Danish law, but they have indisputably offended many Muslims for which we apologize.

Since then a number of offensive drawings have circulated in The Middle East which have never been published in Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and which we would never have published, had they been offered to us. We would have refused to publish them on the grounds that they violated our ethical code.

Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten attaches importance to upholding the highest ethical standards based upon the respect of our fundamental values. It is so much more deplorable, therefore, that these drawings were presented as if they had anything to do with Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten.

Maybe because of culturally based misunderstandings, the initiative to publish the 12 drawings has been interpreted as a campaign against Muslims in Denmark and the rest of the world.

I must categorically dismiss such an interpretation. Because of the very fact that we are strong proponents of the freedom of religion and because we respect the right of any human being to practise his or her religion, offending anybody on the grounds of their religious beliefs is unthinkable to us.

That this happened was, consequently, unintentional.

As a result of the debate that has been going on about the drawings, we have met with representatives of Danish Muslims, and these meetings were held in a positive and constructive spirit. We have also sought in other ways to initiate a fruitful dialogue with Danish Muslims.

It is the wish of Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten that various ethnic groups should live in peace and harmony with each other and that the debates and disagreements which will always exist in a dynamic society should do so in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

For that reason, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten has published many articles describing the positive aspects of integration, for example in a special supplement entitled The Contributors. It portrayed a number of Muslims who have had success in Denmark. The supplement was rewarded by the EU Commission.

Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten takes exception to symbolic acts suited to demonise specific nationalities, religions and ethnic groups.

Sincerely yours

Carsten Juste

Editor-in-Chief

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