02-18-2006, 07:20 AM
Pakistani cleric offers big reward for killing Prophet cartoonist* Canadian
Press
Published: Friday, February 17, 2006
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistani cleric announced a $1-million US
bounty for killing a cartoonist who drew the Prophet Muhammad.
In Libya, a demonstration against the caricatures left the Italian consulate
on fire and at least nine people dead, an Italian diplomat said. Denmark,
where a newspaper first published the cartoons, temporarily closed its
embassy in Pakistan and advised its citizens to leave the country.
An Italian consular official, Antonio Simoes-Concalves, said nine protesters
were killed in the demonstration in the Libyan city Bengazi as armed police
fired bullets and tear gas on a crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators.
Libyan security officials said 11 people had been killed or wounded but gave
no breakdown.
"They are still continually firing," Simoes-Concalves said late Friday,
speaking by telephone from inside the consulate where he was holed up.
"They haven't managed to block them."
The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed the first floor of the consulate had
been set on fire after the crowd charged into the grounds late Friday.
Libyan television showed firefighters trying to put out the fire, ambulances
taking casualties away from the scene and five cars that were severely
damaged in the riot.
Security officials said the demonstrators hurled stones and bottles at the
consulate and later entered the grounds and set fire to the building and a
consular car.
Police fired shots to try and disperse the crowd, the officials said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
No Italians were injured, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.
In Pakistan, Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi announced the bounty for killing a
cartoonist to about 1,000 people outside the historic Mohabat Khan mosque in
the northwestern city Peshawar.
He said the mosque and the religious school he leads would give a reward
worth the equivalent of about $30,000 Cdn and a car for killing the
cartoonist who drew the caricatures - considered blasphemous by Muslims. He
said a local jewellers' association would also give $1 million US but no
representative of the association was available to confirm the offer.
"This is a unanimous decision of by all imams of Islam that whoever insults
the prophets deserves to be killed and whoever will take this insulting man
to his end, will get this prize," he said.
Qureshi did not name any cartoonist in his announcement and he did not
appear aware 12 different people had drawn the pictures.
A Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, first printed the Prophet pictures in
September. The newspaper has since apologized to Muslims for the cartoons,
one of which shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Other western
newspapers, mostly in Europe, have reprinted the pictures, asserting their
news value and the right to freedom of expression.
In Denmark, a spokesman for the Jyllands-Posten declined comment on the
bounty offer. But Mogens Blicher Bjerregaard, president of the Danish
Journalist Union and spokesman for the cartoonists, condemned it.
"It is totally absurd what is happening. The cartoonists just did their job
and they did nothing illegal," he said.
He said the cartoonists - who have been living under police protection since
last year - are aware of the reward and are "feeling bad about the whole
situation."
He did not say whether their security had been stepped up.
Unrest over the cartoons has spiralled in Pakistan. Riots in Lahore and
Peshawar this week caused millions of dollars in damage. Hundreds of
vehicles were burned and protesters targeted U.S. and other foreign
businesses. Five people were killed.
Intelligence officials have said scores of members of radical and militant
Islamic groups joined the protests in Lahore on Tuesday and incited violence
in a bid to undermine President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government, a close
ally of the United States.
On Friday, police confined the leader of the militant group Jamaat al-Dawat,
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, to his home to stop him from addressing supporters in
the city Faisalabad, about 120 kilometres away, his spokesman Yahya Mujahid
said.
A senior police official in Lahore who confirmed Saeed's detention said the
government had ordered police to restrict the movement of all religious
leaders who might address rallies and round up religious activists "who
could be any threat to law and order."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
In Islamabad, visiting former U.S. president Bill Clinton criticized the
cartoons but said Muslims wasted an opportunity to build better ties with
the West by holding violent protests.
"I can tell you, most people in the United States deeply respect Islam...and
most people in Europe do," he said.
Denmark, meanwhile, said it had temporarily closed its embassy in
Pakistanand urged Danes to leave the country. Last week,
Denmark temporarily shut its embassies in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Indonesia.
In neighbouring India, police used batons and tear gas to disperse thousands
of angry worshippers who rioted in the southern city Hyderabad. Hundreds
more protested in Bangladesh.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/st...b52&k=51644&p=2
Press
Published: Friday, February 17, 2006
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistani cleric announced a $1-million US
bounty for killing a cartoonist who drew the Prophet Muhammad.
In Libya, a demonstration against the caricatures left the Italian consulate
on fire and at least nine people dead, an Italian diplomat said. Denmark,
where a newspaper first published the cartoons, temporarily closed its
embassy in Pakistan and advised its citizens to leave the country.
An Italian consular official, Antonio Simoes-Concalves, said nine protesters
were killed in the demonstration in the Libyan city Bengazi as armed police
fired bullets and tear gas on a crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators.
Libyan security officials said 11 people had been killed or wounded but gave
no breakdown.
"They are still continually firing," Simoes-Concalves said late Friday,
speaking by telephone from inside the consulate where he was holed up.
"They haven't managed to block them."
The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed the first floor of the consulate had
been set on fire after the crowd charged into the grounds late Friday.
Libyan television showed firefighters trying to put out the fire, ambulances
taking casualties away from the scene and five cars that were severely
damaged in the riot.
Security officials said the demonstrators hurled stones and bottles at the
consulate and later entered the grounds and set fire to the building and a
consular car.
Police fired shots to try and disperse the crowd, the officials said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
No Italians were injured, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.
In Pakistan, Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi announced the bounty for killing a
cartoonist to about 1,000 people outside the historic Mohabat Khan mosque in
the northwestern city Peshawar.
He said the mosque and the religious school he leads would give a reward
worth the equivalent of about $30,000 Cdn and a car for killing the
cartoonist who drew the caricatures - considered blasphemous by Muslims. He
said a local jewellers' association would also give $1 million US but no
representative of the association was available to confirm the offer.
"This is a unanimous decision of by all imams of Islam that whoever insults
the prophets deserves to be killed and whoever will take this insulting man
to his end, will get this prize," he said.
Qureshi did not name any cartoonist in his announcement and he did not
appear aware 12 different people had drawn the pictures.
A Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, first printed the Prophet pictures in
September. The newspaper has since apologized to Muslims for the cartoons,
one of which shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Other western
newspapers, mostly in Europe, have reprinted the pictures, asserting their
news value and the right to freedom of expression.
In Denmark, a spokesman for the Jyllands-Posten declined comment on the
bounty offer. But Mogens Blicher Bjerregaard, president of the Danish
Journalist Union and spokesman for the cartoonists, condemned it.
"It is totally absurd what is happening. The cartoonists just did their job
and they did nothing illegal," he said.
He said the cartoonists - who have been living under police protection since
last year - are aware of the reward and are "feeling bad about the whole
situation."
He did not say whether their security had been stepped up.
Unrest over the cartoons has spiralled in Pakistan. Riots in Lahore and
Peshawar this week caused millions of dollars in damage. Hundreds of
vehicles were burned and protesters targeted U.S. and other foreign
businesses. Five people were killed.
Intelligence officials have said scores of members of radical and militant
Islamic groups joined the protests in Lahore on Tuesday and incited violence
in a bid to undermine President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government, a close
ally of the United States.
On Friday, police confined the leader of the militant group Jamaat al-Dawat,
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, to his home to stop him from addressing supporters in
the city Faisalabad, about 120 kilometres away, his spokesman Yahya Mujahid
said.
A senior police official in Lahore who confirmed Saeed's detention said the
government had ordered police to restrict the movement of all religious
leaders who might address rallies and round up religious activists "who
could be any threat to law and order."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
In Islamabad, visiting former U.S. president Bill Clinton criticized the
cartoons but said Muslims wasted an opportunity to build better ties with
the West by holding violent protests.
"I can tell you, most people in the United States deeply respect Islam...and
most people in Europe do," he said.
Denmark, meanwhile, said it had temporarily closed its embassy in
Pakistanand urged Danes to leave the country. Last week,
Denmark temporarily shut its embassies in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Indonesia.
In neighbouring India, police used batons and tear gas to disperse thousands
of angry worshippers who rioted in the southern city Hyderabad. Hundreds
more protested in Bangladesh.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/st...b52&k=51644&p=2