(CRN/IFEX) – According to a 24 April 2006 Reuters UK release, comments recently attributed to the al Qaeda leader raised the general level of threat against the 12 Danish cartoonists who had produced the controversial cartoons for the “Jyllands-Posten” newspaper. Speaking in the context of the cartoons, bin Laden was quoted as saying, “Heretics and […]
(CRN/IFEX) – According to a 24 April 2006 Reuters UK release, comments recently attributed to the al Qaeda leader raised the general level of threat against the 12 Danish cartoonists who had produced the controversial cartoons for the “Jyllands-Posten” newspaper. Speaking in the context of the cartoons, bin Laden was quoted as saying, “Heretics and atheists, who denigrate religion and transgress against God and His Prophet, will not stop their enmity towards Islam except by being killed.”
The Reuters report also quotes bin Laden as saying, “The insistence of the Danish government to refrain from apologizing and its refusal to punish the criminals and take action to prevent this crime from being repeated . . . shows that the notions of freedom of speech have no roots, especially when it comes to Muslims.”
On April 24, Al Jazeera reported that among other things on the tape, bin Laden had said, “Those that have wronged the prophet should be handed over to al-Qaeda for judgment.”
Bin Laden’s latest radio message had a long list of accusations against the West and he announced that civilians in the West would not be direct targets of al-Qaeda operations.
This new threat against the 12 Danish cartoonists represents a significant escalation of risk for the cartoonists, coming as it has from the mouth of the al-Qaeda leader. To date, nearly 50 people around the world have been killed in demonstrations condemning the cartoons. Most of these were in Nigeria where Moslems attacked Christians because of the cartoons.
CRN condemns in the strongest terms bin Laden’s specific targeting of cartoonists for assassination.
