A leading U.S. terrorism expert has warned of renewed tensions between the Muslim world and Denmark in connection with plans by Jyllands-Postens Culture Editor Flemming Rose to release a book in which caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed are reprinted.
In his ‘The tyranny of silence’ Rose studies the 12 controversial caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, which were first published in Jyllands-Posten in 2005.
Since then, they have repeatedly been re-printed in media across the world and caused anti-Danish demonstrations, boycotts of Danish goods in Muslim countries, the burning of Danish flags and torching of Danish embassies in Damascus and Beirut.
“If I were him, I would seriously consider the consequences of reprinting the drawings,” says U.S. terrorism expert Evan Kohlman, who has worked for the FBI and the U.S. administration on terrorism issues.
Kohlman says that while he understands the issue of freedom of speech, ‘every time the drawings are reprinted, there are riots and demonstrations and there will be bloodshed’.
Denmark’s Ambassador to Algeria Ole Wøhlers Olsen says that in some quarters the book will result in the same violent reactions as when the caricatures were reprinted two years ago.
“If you look at the more radical terrorist groups as those here in Algeria, they will clap their hands. It is something they can really use in their propaganda. And it will confirm their view that the Danes lead in scorning the Prophet Mohammed,” says Wøhlers Olsen.
“Governments in the Arab and Muslim world will probably shake their heads and ask whether the Danes have not understood that this is something that disturbs us and gives us domestic problems,” he adds.
The spokesman for the Islamic Society in Denmark Imran Shah says that Flemming Rose is ‘beyond reach’ and says that Danish Muslims will probably react by shrugging their shoulders.
Rose: no provocation In an interview in today’s newspaper about his book, Rose says it is not an attempt at provocation. The book, which will be released on September 30, reprints the newspaper page containing the 12 caricatures.
“I just tell the story of the 12 drawings and put them into a context about offensive pictures,” he says.
Kurt Westergaard, the man behind the most controversial of the 12 drawings is also planning a book this autumn to include his drawing of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.
The two books have not caused undue unrest at the Danish Foreign Ministry. According to Ambassador Klavs A. Holm, who leads the ministry’s Public Diplomacy section, the ministry is prepared if anything happens. “But I don’t think it will. There have been many occasions which could have sparked a new crisis, but that has not happened,” Holm says.
Foreign Minister Lene Espersen (Cons) says it is premature to speak of a new Mohammed crisis, adding that both Rose and Westergaard have the right to publish the drawings.
“Personally, I would just like to say that I’ve seen those drawings enough times, so I do not have a need to see them anymore,” Espersen says.
No Danish newspaper has reprinted the drawings since Politiken and several other Danish newspapers reprinted them in 2008.