French newspaper editor steps down over Mohammed cartoons

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Paris (dpa) - The row over the Mohammed cartoons, which has already provoked anti-Danish attacks and boycotts throughout the Muslim world, claimed another victim on Wednesday with the firing of the editor of the Parisian daily tabloid, "France Soir".

The editor, Jacques LeFranc, had published the controversial material to demonstrate freedom of the press and solidarity with Danish editors, who printed 12 cartoons showing the Islamic prophet Mohammed in various comic poses.

One of them portrays Mohammed's turban as a bomb. The cartoons were first published in September, and reprinted since then by a Christian magazine, unleashing a storm of outrage across the Arabic world.

The owner of France Soir, an Egyptian, Raymond Lakah, said he fired LeFranc to demonstrate "respect for the intimate beliefs of an individual" - apparently a reference to religious beliefs.

Followers of Islam charge the cartoons are an insult to their religion.

Lakah also apologized to the "community of Muslims and all people who are shocked and outraged over this publication".

The daily France Soir published the 12 caricatures, saying that it did so "not because we like provocation but because they are the object of a worldwide controversy where nothing less is at stake than the balance between the respect for religious belief and the freedom of expression."

The move was promptly condemned by the president of the French Council of Muslims, Dalil Boubakeur, who said: "This is horrible. We disapprove of this completely. It is a real provocation."

Controversy over cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed escalated Wednesday, despite efforts by Denmark to ease the tensions.

A Dutch politician campaigning on his opposition to Islam published the cartoons on his website Wednesday. Geert Wilders described as "deeply unsettling" the protests that have arisen across the Muslim world. "This is a bad business. What is the price of freedom?" Wilders said.

Denmark, finding itself in the unusual situation of seeing its flag burned and Danish businesses and diplomatic facilities in the target of protests, was seeking to ease the controversy.

In the United Arab Emirates, Denmark's consul Thomas Bay was planning to hold urgent meetings with the country's Muslim communities to explain Copenhagen's stance on the controversy.

In Copenhagen, the editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten newspaper, Carsten Juste - who issued an apology on Monday - said Wednesday he regretted his paper's decision to run the caricatures, saying the "costs were simply too high" given the current boycotts and threats against Danes.

Syria and Saudi Arabia have withdrawn their ambassadors from Copenhagen, and Libya has closed its equivalent of an embassy to protest.

Around the Muslim countries in the Mideast and North Africa, anger over the Mohammed caricatures continued. Tens of thousands of Yemeni protested in Sanaa outside the European Commission and the United Nations.

In Tunisia, 17 Arab interior ministers condemned the publication. The chairman of the Kuwait Pharmacists Society, Salah al-Qattan, said an embargo on Danish medicines, including insulin, was being considered.

The Danish dairy products company Arla said it was losing some 1.6 million dollars in revenues a day in the Gulf owing to a boycott of Danish products in the Middle East. Arla's products had been removed from most Saudi supermarkets and tone of its distribution employees was physically assaulted in Mecca. Stones were thrown at one of its distribution vehicles in another Saudi city.

The United Nations commission on human rights has launched an investigation of the cartoons for possible racism and insults against religion.