| British foreign secretary called cartoons disrespectful { February 3 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,,1701780,00.htmlhttp://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,,1701780,00.html
Jack Straw praises UK media's 'sensitivity' over cartoons
Chris Tryhorn and agencies Friday February 3, 2006
Jack Straw attacked European media organisations today for publishing controversial cartoons of Muhammad that have sparked outrage across the Muslim world. But the foreign secretary praised British newspapers for their "considerable responsibility and sensitivity" in not printing the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have been reprinted in a host of newspapers across the continent this week.
Although TV news in this country showed some of the cartoons as they appeared in European newspapers, no national newspaper in the UK has so far chosen to reproduce the images, one of which depicts Muhammad with a bomb fizzing out of his turban.
"There is freedom of speech, we all respect that, but there is not any obligation to insult or to be gratuitously inflammatory," Mr Straw said after talks with the Sudanese foreign minister. "I believe that the republication of these cartoons has been unnecessary, it has been insensitive, it has been disrespectful and it has been wrong.
"There are taboos in every religion. We have to be very careful about showing the proper respect in this situation."
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said he was "deeply concerned" by European newspapers that did not understand the offence they had caused to Muslims.
"We reiterate our absolute condemnation of the decision to publish these images in Denmark and view their republication in other European countries as a deliberate and senseless act of provocation," he said.
"Newspaper editors must exercise restraint and good judgment instead of adding to the increasingly xenophobic tone being adopted in parts of Europe against Muslims. These newspapers should apologise immediately for the harm they have caused."
Last night demonstrators protested outside BBC Television Centre in west London, angry that the corporation had screened glimpses of the cartoon.
The BBC said it was using the images "to give audiences an understanding of the strong feelings evoked by the story". ITV News said it used the images "in the context of it being a news story".
The row over the cartoons has provoked a major debate in Europe about the importance and limitations or free speech.
In the most controversial episode so far, the managing editor of France Soir was sacked after the paper printed the drawings in Wednesday's edition, using the defiant headline, "Yes, we have the right to caricature God."
The cartoons have angered Muslims because Islam forbids the human representation of Muhammad, and many believe that some of the images ridiculed the prophet.
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