Last update - 05:47 13/02/2006
Major
Iranian newspaper holds Holocaust cartoons
competition
By The Associated Press
A prominent Iranian newspaper on Monday opened an international
competition seeking cartoons about the Holocaust in what it said
was a test of whether the West would be as supportive of freedom of
expression over the Nazi genocide as it was with caricatures of
Islam's prophet.
Hamshahri, one of Iran's top five newspapers, published the call
for cartoons under the title: "What is the Limit of Western Freedom
of Expression?" on its Web site.
The announcement was also to appear on page 31 of the print version
of the paper, said Davood Kazemi, executive manager of the
contest.
Advertisement
"We don't intend retaliation over the drawings of the prophet. We
just want to show that freedom is restricted in the West," said
Kazemi, who has been cartoon editor at the paper since 1992.
The contest comes in the wake of widespread Muslim protests over
the drawings of the Prophet Mohammed, insulting to Muslims, and a
few months after hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad provoked
outrage in Europe for saying Israel should be "wiped off the map"
and that the Holocaust was a "myth."
Caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed - including one that depicts
him wearing a turban shaped like a bomb - have been reprinted in
several publications in Europe, the United States and elsewhere in
what publishers said was a show of solidarity for freedom of
expression.
Islam widely holds that representations of the prophet are banned
for fear they could lead to idolatry.
The drawings sparked fury across the Muslim world, and in some
places - including Iran, Syria and Lebanon - have turned into
violent attacks against Western diplomatic missions. In
Afghanistan, nearly a dozen people were killed in protests.
"We expect those papers who published the cartoons (of Mohammed) to
reproduce the cartoons which will be selected during our
competition," Kazemi said.
"Even Israeli cartoonists could send their works to the
contest."
He noted that the paper would not accept any "insulting" cartoons.
He did not elaborate.
The call for drawings, in English and Farsi on the Web site, said
that in the West, it was "an unforgiven crime" to debate and review
issues such as "looting and crimes perpetrated by the U.S. and
Israel, as well as alleged historical events like the
Holocaust."
It said the paper was soliciting contributions on the theme of the
Holocaust and the limit of Western freedom of expression.
"In the wake of the publication of the profane cartoons in several
European newspapers, Hamshahri is going to measure the sanctity of
freedom of expression among the Westerners," the announcement
said.
May 5 is the deadline for entries and each contestant can enter up
to three submissions.
"Some weeks after the deadline we will announce the results of the
completion," Kazemi said. "Select cartoons will be reproduced in a
catalog and the works will go on public display."
Kazemi stressed that the government had nothing to do with the
contest.
"Government authorities did not affect decision-making process for
holding the contest. The idea was independently initiated by the
paper," Kazemi said.
The contest was co-sponsored by the Caricature House, a Tehran
exhibition center for cartoons.
Both the newspaper and the exhibition center are owned by the
Tehran Municipality, which is dominated by allies of Ahmadinejad,
who is well known for his opposition to Israel.
Iran also plans a conference to examine what it terms the
scientific evidence for the Holocaust.
Ahmadinejad has called the Mohammed drawings a Zionist conspiracy.
A series of angry demonstrations at embassies of European countries
in Tehran caused Denmark to temporarily withdraw its ambassador on
Saturday.
Two Jordanian editors released on bail
Two weekly newspaper editors charged with "harming religious
feelings" by reprinting offensive caricatures of the Prophet
Mohammed were released on bail Sunday after a request was made by
Jordan's press watchdog.
"We made a request for the release of Jihad al-Momani, chief editor
of the weekly Shihan, and Hashim al-Khalidi, chief editor of
al-Mihwar, on bail and it was granted," Nidal Mansour, director of
the Amman-based Center for Defending the Freedom of Journalists
told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Mansour said the men were first taken to an Amman hospital for a
medical checkup before returning to their homes.
Both men have pleaded not guilty to their charges.
Al-Khalidi's trial resumes on Wednesday and al-Momani's resumes the
following day.
Reprints of the cartoons published in the name of press freedoms by
several European newspapers have sparked fierce protests by Muslims
throughout the Middle East and Asia in recent weeks.
Al-Momani was arrested Feb. 4 after being fired several days
earlier for taking the bold step of publishing three of the 12
Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
One of the reprints included the cartoon that depicts the prophet
wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a burning fuse. The
headline said: "This is how the Danish newspaper portrayed Prophet
Mohammed, may God's blessing and peace be upon him."
Al-Momani said he reprinted the material in order to show
Jordanians "the Danish offense."
The government threatened legal action against him.
It was initially believed that al-Momani was the first in the Arab
world to reprint the drawings. However, al-Khalidi told the AP that
he reprinted the caricatures on Nov. 10 with an article criticizing
the Danish newspaper. He said the reproductions were "extremely
small" and not easily viewed.