Resurrection of the Cartoon Crisis?

Although one hoped that calm would have by now been restored following the publishing of the infamous Muhammad cartoons by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, it now appears that the predicament is far from over. This morning it emerged that Danish police and intelligence services had thwarted a plot to assassin a cartoonists behind one of the cartons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (I won’t post the cartoons here but a simple Google search should provide those who are interested with a chance to see the cartoons for themselves). Danish police arrested, in the early hours of Tuesday, three persons suspected of planning an attack on the Jyllands-Posten cartoonist; one being a Danish citizen of Moroccan descent and two Tunisian citizens. The Danish citizen has since been released but face charges in relation to the Danish penal code’s provisions on terrorism while the two Tunisian citizens are to be instantly deported. Although the news is still emerging, it is laudable that violence against a journalist utilising his right to free speech has been avoided. In the same vein, any plans to meet the expression of such freedoms with violence or threats deserve utmost condemnation and denunciation.

However, this entire discussion raises some more profound questions in relation to freedom of speech and expression and the need to take due care and consideration of other peoples’ faith, feelings and sentiments. In particular in light of the news that at least one other Danish newspaper (Politiken) has announced it will publish the cartoon made by the cartoonist in tomorrow’s edition in support while another newspaper has already done so in its online editorial (Berlingske Tidende). Although the cartoons was, and still are, within the relevant Danish law and clearly do not constitute ‘hate speech’ as developed by the European Court of Human Rights, nor instigation under Danish law, it could be questioned, on a moral level, whether the cartoons were necessary. This was most succinctly pointed out by the former Danish Foreign Minister, Uffe Ellemann Jensen, who, in the aftermath of the publishing of the original cartoons, noted that just because one has a particular right to do something one does not necessarily have to do it. In my opinion, this comment was most notable by its absence in the Danish debate following the publishing, which seemed to focus on, the perhaps more straight foward, issues of rights and lack of appreciation of such rights rather than issues of morality and responsibility. Thus, it appears that the debate and controversy will continue for a considerable period.


Note.
The Legal Research Society held a roundtable discussion on the topic in October 2006 and you can find background information on the event and the crisis here. The Danish media have covered today’s story extensively (mostly in Danish) but here are references to the BBC’s coverage as well as the coverage in the NY Times.