Danish Muhammad cartoons published
On 30 September 2005 the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. In the paper's own account, it had asked Danish illustrators to draw the prophet "as a contribution to the debate about self-censorship". This followed a Danish author's difficulty finding an illustrator for a children's book about the prophet. The BBC reports that one drawing shows Muhammad with a lit bomb in his turban.
Jyllands-Posten says threats were made against the illustrators straight after publication, and the people who made them were arrested. On 19 October 2005, eleven ambassadors from Muslim countries asked to meet the Danish Prime Minister, who declined on the grounds that the Danish media is governed only by the courts. The BBC dates the ambassadors' complaint 20 October. In November and December a delegation of Danish imams toured the Middle East, taking with them, according to the paper, other offensive drawings that had never appeared in Jyllands-Posten.
The paper published an apology for offence on 30 January 2006, but has not apologised for publishing the drawings. It said: "they have indisputably offended many Muslims for which we apologise". The violent protests followed in early 2006 (see the next entry).
Australian reaction began in February 2006 and is covered in the next entry.
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