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http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Mar22/0,4670,FranceProphetDrawings,00.html
Paper Cleared in Muhammad Drawings Case
Thursday, March 22, 2007
PARIS - A French court cleared a satirical weekly newspaper Thursday in a
case brought by Muslims who were angered by its publication of caricatures
of the Prophet Muhammad.
The newspaper Charlie-Hebdo and its director, Philippe Val, were accused of
"publicly abusing a group of people because of their religion." Val had
risked a six-month prison sentence and a fine of up to $29,250.
The trial last month drew nationwide attention in a country with Europe's
largest Muslim community and a strong commitment to freedom of expression
and secularism.
Val said the ruling was a victory for secular French Muslims.
"This debate was necessary," he said.
Lhaj Thami Breze of the fundamentalist Union of Islamic Organizations of
France, one of the groups that brought the suit, said he would appeal the
decision. Francis Szpiner, a lawyer for the conservative Mosque of Paris,
the other group behind the suit, said it was not likely to appeal.
At the trial in February, a state attorney called for the dismissal of the
case, saying the cartoons denounced terrorists' use of the Muslim faith but
did not damage Islam. The defense read a letter of support from Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who is running for president and said he preferred
"an excess of caricatures to an absence of caricatures."
On Feb. 8, 2006, the paper printed three caricatures _ two of them reprints
of those carried by a Danish newspaper in 2005 that stoked anger across the
Islamic world. One caricature was an original.
In September, a Danish court rejected a lawsuit against the newspaper that
first printed the cartoons _ a verdict some Arab politicians and
intellectuals warned would widen a cultural gap.
Paper Cleared in Muhammad Drawings Case
Thursday, March 22, 2007
PARIS - A French court cleared a satirical weekly newspaper Thursday in a
case brought by Muslims who were angered by its publication of caricatures
of the Prophet Muhammad.
The newspaper Charlie-Hebdo and its director, Philippe Val, were accused of
"publicly abusing a group of people because of their religion." Val had
risked a six-month prison sentence and a fine of up to $29,250.
The trial last month drew nationwide attention in a country with Europe's
largest Muslim community and a strong commitment to freedom of expression
and secularism.
Val said the ruling was a victory for secular French Muslims.
"This debate was necessary," he said.
Lhaj Thami Breze of the fundamentalist Union of Islamic Organizations of
France, one of the groups that brought the suit, said he would appeal the
decision. Francis Szpiner, a lawyer for the conservative Mosque of Paris,
the other group behind the suit, said it was not likely to appeal.
At the trial in February, a state attorney called for the dismissal of the
case, saying the cartoons denounced terrorists' use of the Muslim faith but
did not damage Islam. The defense read a letter of support from Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who is running for president and said he preferred
"an excess of caricatures to an absence of caricatures."
On Feb. 8, 2006, the paper printed three caricatures _ two of them reprints
of those carried by a Danish newspaper in 2005 that stoked anger across the
Islamic world. One caricature was an original.
In September, a Danish court rejected a lawsuit against the newspaper that
first printed the cartoons _ a verdict some Arab politicians and
intellectuals warned would widen a cultural gap.
