A Danish court has rejected a lawsuit against the newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, that first printed the Muhammad cartoons. The court rejected claims by Muslim groups that the drawings were meant to insult the prophet and make a mockery of Islam.
"The dismissal of the lawsuit against the newspaper, which was expected, confirms the ongoing intention to harm our religion and our prophet," said Mahmoud al-Kharabsheh, who heads the Jordanian parliament's legal committee.
In Lebanon, where protesters set fire to the Danish Consulate in February, Islamic-studies professor Radwan el-Sayyed said the verdict was a "misinterpretation of freedom of expression." He said he did not expect a repeat of February's riots, however, saying people knew the violence was counterproductive.
In Syria, where a mob set fire to the Danish and Norwegian Embassies in February, legislator Mohammed Habash, who heads the Islamic Studies Center in Damascus, said the ruling would "widen the gap between the Western and Islamic world."
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