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PARIS, Feb 1, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- French newspaper France Soir Wednesday reprinted Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that had outraged much of the Muslim world, a report said.
Under the headline, "Yes, we have the right to caricature God," France Soir ran a front-page cartoon of Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian gods floating on a cloud. "Don't complain, Mohammad, we've all been caricatured here," the Christian deity says.
The newspaper said it published the cartoons to show "religious dogma" has no place in secular society, the BBC reported.
The French government defended the newspaper's free speech rights, as the Danish government did earlier for newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
A bomb threat Tuesday forced Jyllands-Posten, which already had apologized, to evacuate its offices. Also Tuesday, ministers from 17 Arab countries urged Denmark to punish the newspaper for its "offense to Islam."
Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza this week burned Danish flags and pictures of the prime minister, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Denmark and Libya ordered its Copenhagen embassy closed.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
