The Malaysian government today requested the Swedish government to take action against three newspapers in the country for publishing and reprinting a caricature of Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Malaysia strongly denounced the reprinting of the caricature.
“Malaysia is concerned that such despicable acts disregard the sensitivity of the Muslim world in the name of freedom of expression.
“Such irresponsible acts are provocative and offensive in nature and hence, it is totally unacceptable,” he said in a statement issued here.
Therefore, he urged the Swedish government to take measures against such publications to prevent the recurrence of such irresponsible acts in the future.
The caricature, which depicted Prophet Muhammad’s head on a dog’s body, was a creation of Swedish artist Lars Vilks, 63, and was submitted to be displayed as an exhibit at a Swedish cultural heritage centre.
It was rejected on security reasons.
However, a Swedish newspaper later printed the drawing with an editorial defending freedom of expression, which led to protests by Muslim countries and resulted in Vilks receiving numerous death threats.
On Wednesday, three Swedish newspapers reproduced the caricature. — Bernama
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