Danish paper apologises, but remains unrepentant

COPENHAGEN (AFP) Danish daily Politiken on Friday apologised to Muslims for possibly offending them by reproducing blasphemous images of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in 2008, but said it did not regret publishing the drawings.
We apologise to anyone who was offended by our decision to reprint the drawing, the newspaper said in a statement. Politiken is the first Danish newspaper to formally apologise to those who may have resented the publication of the sacrilegious images.
It published on Friday an agreement reached with eight organisations from Australia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian territories representing 94,923 descendants of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). In the agreement Politiken said it regretted if it had insulted Muslims faith, but that it did not regret publishing the drawings and that it did not renounce the right to publish the controversial drawings again. The newspapers editor-in-chief, Toeger Seindenfaden, said he was happy with the outcome.
We deplore that Muslims were offended even if that was not our intention, he told AFP.
Politikens apology was widely condemned by Danish politicians, charging the paper had caved in to pressure and had sacrificed freedom of expression, which is considered a cornerstone of Danish democracy. A number of other Danish newspapers also condemned the apology, but said they would not republish the drawings.
In 2008, around 20 Danish newspapers, including Politiken, reproduced the profane drawings following a failed attack against one of the cartoonists, sparking further protests in a number of Muslim countries, including Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia. Fridays agreement emerged from an August 28 request made by a Saudi lawyer, Faisal Zaki Yamani, to 11 Danish newspapers.
He had asked the newspapers to apologise, promise they would not republish the sacrilegious drawings, and remove the controversial cartoons from their websites.