Newspaper Trial For Printing Muhammad Cartoons Begins In France, page 1

posted on Feb, 7 2007 @ 09:09 PM

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Court hearing have begun in a suit brought by tow influential Muslim organizations in France against a weekly newspaper for printing cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoon when previously published was blamed for lighting off rioting in several countries. The cartoon were first published in a Danish newspaper. The riots that followed were blamed for the deaths of about fifty people. This is happening in a country where separation of church and state is importuned, and is creating issues on weather the law written in 1901 needs to have revisions.

www.nytimes.com
The case is causing debate in a country where separation of church and state is considered a fundamental tenet of the national identity.

In its Feb. 8, 2006, issue, Charlie Hebdo republished 12 drawings that had originally appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, some of them representing the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons were first published in September 2005.

Two of those drawings are cited in the suit: one depicting the prophet greeting suicide bombers in heaven with the caption, “Stop, stop, we have run out of virgins,” and another depicting Muhammad wearing a turban containing a bomb. A third image included in the suit was an original drawing by the French cartoonist Cabu, depicting a crying Muhammad with his head in his hands, saying, “It’s hard to be loved by idiots.”

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There was also a suit brought against the Danish news paper, to the best of my memory the newspaper won the case. I don't know how things like this usually go in France. The suit is for slander and personally by non legal mind just does not really see slander there. Debate over laws can be a good thing if it protects the rights and freedoms of the people. Weather the case is one or lost the one thing that has gotten across is these groups who file the suites can cause a lot of trouble for the news papers that do something they don't like. That being said I hope the ruling will be that news papers can print what ever cartoons they wish.

Related News Links:
sfgate.com
www.iht.com
www.guardian.co.uk
today.reuters.co.uk

djohnsto77

posted on Feb, 7 2007 @ 09:46 PM

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In the United States slander and libel laws don't apply to the dead. And even if Mohammed was still alive, he'd be considered a public figure, so it'd still be hard to get a judgment.

I don't know how the French legal system views these issues though.

RedGolem

posted on Feb, 7 2007 @ 10:37 PM

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I dont know how it works in France either.
But I am just hopeing that it will be something similar.
I will post it hear if I can find the news as it happens.