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Muslims in Japan protest prophet cartoons
Asian Political News, March 6, 2006
TOKYO, March 4 Kyodo
About 80 Muslims living in Japan held a demonstration Friday in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in protest against the printing of controversial cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.
They then handed a letter of protest to the Danish Embassy, asking that Denmark and other European countries set up laws that respect the Muslim concept of blasphemy and punish those who violate them.
The letter said the publication of the cartoons has ''hurt our feelings immeasurably'' and added it was ''a very selfish attitude'' for the Danish government to ''maintain their unrestricted, arrogant and irresponsible freedom of expression despite others' feelings.''
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That the newspaper and Danish and European leaders have not shown repentance over the matter is ''an open challenge to all Muslims of the world,'' the correspondence said.
''We...request you to frame such laws in your country and all over Europe that the ridicule of elders of any religion be declared a crime of blasphemy and severe punishment be meted out to such offenders, so as to include the punishment for the publisher and the drawers of such insulting cartoons,'' it added.
Hussain Khan, chairman of the Tokyo-based Japan Muslim Peace Federation, told reporters that a staff member at the Danish Embassy said the idea of setting up such laws was a good idea and it would be conveyed to the central government.
Khan, 73, said he organized Friday's event because he wanted to do something in Japan, seeing that Muslims all over the world were protesting the cartoons.
The cartoons, first printed in a Danish newspaper last September and since reprinted in a number of other European publications, have sparked violent protests by Muslims worldwide that have resulted in injuries and deaths.
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