The prophet Mohammed cartoon controversy continues

Copenhagen Post:

A large group of prominent former Danish ambassadors have broken with traditions of silent and discreet diplomacy, openly criticising the government's decision not to meet with ambassadors from Muslim countries after daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed caricatures of the prophet Mohammed last September.

Although the newspaper claimed the drawings were intended to test the limits of free speech in the face of growing fears that radical Islamists could limit freedom of expression, the Muslim ambassadors argued that the drawings represented a direct attack on their religion.

The prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, rejected their request for a meeting, stating that freedom of the press prevented the Danish government from intervening, a decision the Danish ambassadors criticised in a letter to the editor of national daily Politiken.

'It would have suited democracy in Denmark if the prime minister had met the request for a meeting that was put forth by eleven foreign ambassadors from Muslim countries,' wrote the 22 former top diplomats, of whom a considerable number had done service in Muslim countries.

'It would have been reasonable if the government had at least heard the Muslim ambassadors,' said Niels Ersbøll, Denmark's former ambassador to the EU, who felt that the rejection of a meeting broke with a long historical tradition. 'You could have done that without in any way demonstrating sympathy for so-called spokesman's threats.'

The ambassadors said Denmark had become 'a witness to a sharpening of tone, which can only be regarded as persecution of the minority that consists of Muslim citizens'.

The prime minister had no comments to the ambassadors' criticism, but Troels Lund Poulsen, the Liberal Party's spokesman on foreign affairs called their letter 'very misguided and sad'.

'They are willing to compromise the freedom of expression by taking a moral stand. The Muslim ambassadors wanted a dialogue with Rasmussen in order to stop the drawings. It doesn't serve any purpose to enter a dialogue with people who want to stop the democratic process. Rasmussen did the only right thing,' Poulsen said.

Thou Shalt Not Draw