The PEN American Center issued a letter last Friday protesting the decision by Yale University Press to withhold cartoon images of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. The images were set to appear in the forthcoming book “The Cartoons That Shook The World,” by the scholar Jytte Klausen, which discusses riots around the world that were ignited by the images.
But after consulting with security and Islamic experts who advised that reprinting the images might re-ignite violent protests, Yale decided to withhold the most inflammatory images — notably, the image of Muhammed with a bomb on his head — that were published by a Danish paper in 2005.
On its Web site, PEN published excerpts of the letter it sent to the president and board of directors of Yale University, which read in part: “We think Yale University Press’s decision runs contrary to the university’s long tradition of supporting thoughtful exploration of timely issues and topics ... We strongly urge Yale University Press to reconsider its decision.”
