International Committee for the Support of the Final Prophet (ICSFP)
An entirely unreasonable decision
In complete disappointment the Muslims organizations of Denmark and ICSFP who have raised a case against the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for slander and defamation over the paper’s publication of the 12 satirical Muhammad cartoons received the news that Aarhus Court decided not to consider this case on its merits. The reason: the Court does not find that we as plaintiffs have been wronged, and we are therefore not entitled to bring the case to court. We of course disagree entirely with this view.
Kasem Said Ahmad of the Islamic Society in Denmark says:
The 12 satirical Muhammad cartoons in our opinion was defamation of character because it clearly signals that not only the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), but Islam as a religion is placed as an exponent of terrorism. As Muslims, we simply do not accept our beloved prophet being accused of terrorism. Such accusations are clearly defamatory.
Ali Jomaa from ICSFP said;
The Court’s decision is absolutely unreasonable because there are several precedents where groups have also felt themselves wronged, and where the case was heard by the court. According to our lawyer, the most famous of these cases is from 19xx, when an officer in the army publicly characterised everybody who opposed NATO as traitors. Six members of Socialist Youth took this statement to court as defamatory, and the case was accepted. We find it difficult to understand the basis of accepting the case of the Socialist Youth while refusing to accept the case of defamation against the Prophet.
Mr. Jomaa adds;
It is also becoming more difficult to understand how the Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen had directed his statements in a letter to the ambassadors of the Muslim countries on 21 October last year. In this letter he said that the Danish government has no influence on the press, and that a party who feels wronged by the press can take the case to court. Since the case has been refused to be raised in the courts than how can the Prime Minister officially make reference to seeking justice in the judicial system.
An appeal has now been made for a decision is taken at the High Court.
Contact : info@whymuhammad.org
