Last week, as many as 5,000 Muslims demonstrated in Copenhagen against the paper and the drawings.

COPENHAGEN, October 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Muslim diplomats in Denmark have protested against newspaper caricatures of Prophet Muhammad in a letter to Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the premier's office said Thursday, October 20.

The ambassadors of Pakistan, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Indonesia and a number of Arab countries said they were offended by the caricatures which showed the Prophet as a stereotypical fundamentalist, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"We hope there will be understanding of Muslims' feelings about Muhammad. And we hope there will be an apology," Mascud Effendy Hutasuhut, counselor at the Indonesian embassy in Denmark, told Danmarks radio.

Twelve drawings depicting Prophet Muhammad in different settings appeared in Denmark's largest circulation daily Jyllands-Posten on September 30.

In one of the drawings, he appeared with a turban shaped like a bomb strapped to his head.

The images, considered blasphemous under Islam, have drawn criticism from across the Muslim minority in Denmark, with religious leaders insisting they are an insult to the prophet and calling for an official apology.

Last week, as many as 5,000 Muslims demonstrated in Copenhagen against the paper and the drawings.

The editors of Jyllands-Posten stood by their cartoons and rejected the diplomats' demand for an apology in the name of freedom of expression.

"We live in a democracy where satire and caricature are generally accepted, and religion should not set limits on that," chief editor Carsten Juste claimed.

The Muslim diplomats have requested a meeting with Rasmussen, who is also in charge of media affairs.

They are expected to vocalize concern about a perceived anti-Muslim and anti-Islam campaigns in the press and certain far-right political circles.

Kaj Vilhelmsen, a Danish radio commentator, has been charged with violating anti-racism laws for his anti-Muslim remarks in which he called for "exterminating Muslims" in Europe.

His right-wing local Copenhagen station Radio Holger is facing a license withdrawal over the same issue.

Danish Muslims - estimated at 180,000 or around 3 per cent of Denmark's 5.4 million - sounded the alarms that much more restrictive steps would be taken by the government in future.

Islam is Denmark's second largest religion after the Lutheran Protestant Church, which is actively followed by four-fifths of the country's population.

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