BBC Worldwide Monitoring
The solicitor representing the 20 Muslim associations which sued Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten [Danish daily newspaper] at the end of March for publishing the Muhammad cartoons now has an extra case to deal with - his own.
In association with the legal action Michael Havemann issued a press release containing accusations against Jyllands-Posten and its management which according to the newspaper were so serious that it is now suing the solicitor for damages.
"It is very unusual for a newspaper to sue a solicitor for damages. In fact I cannot remember it happening before. But the accusations made by solicitor Havemann in his press release are simply so serious and insulting that he has exceeded the limit of what we will put up with. We are thick-skinned, but there are limits," Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief, Carsten Juste, tells the Internet edition of his own newspaper.
No conditions set by newspaper
Solicitor Michael Havemann wrote in his press release:
"From the information I have obtained the most serious of the cartoons - the one with a bomb - was produced by the newspaper's own illustrators, apparently on the management's orders, because the drawings submitted by outside artists were not serious enough. If this is correct it gives further support to one of our basic allegations: that the aim of the newspaper's actions was that a religious minority in Denmark absolutely should be mocked."
The accusations are not correct, Jyllands-Posten believes:
"The illustrators were expressly asked to depict the Prophet Muhammad as they envisioned him - without any conditions being set by the newspaper," Carsten Juste tells the Internet edition of Jyllands-Posten.
Jyllands-Posten is demanding that the solicitor withdraws the defamatory accusations and pays compensation of 100,000 kroner [about 17,000 dollars] to the two claimants.
Text of report by Danish radio website on 2 May; subheading as published:
Source: Danmarks Radio website, Copenhagen, in Danish 1659 gmt 2 May 06
