Muslim cartoon case fails to reach Denmark’s top court: “Muslim cartoon case fails to reach Denmark’s top court
AFP
Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008

COPENHAGEN – Denmark’s justice ministry rejected Tuesday a bid by seven Muslim lobby groups to take the Jyllands-Posten to the Supreme Court for publishing controversial cartoons of Prophet Muhammed.

The Danish newspaper caused a furore in September 2005 when it published the cartoons, triggering anti-Danish protests in several Muslim countries.

One of the 12 cartoons portrayed Muhammed as a terrorist wearing a bomb-shaped turban.”

The judicial commission, which decides if cases can be heard by the Supreme Court, rejected the groups’ claim without giving reasons. It was the third attempt by the group to take the case to the Supreme Court.

The case had already been defeated in Denmark’s Court of Appeal in June this year, which upheld a lower court ruling from October 2006.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal said the caricatures did not aim to insult followers of Islam, as the claimants alleged.

The court emphasized that “terrorist acts have been committed in the name of Islam, and it is not illegal for these acts to be made the object of satirical representation.”

The seven groups say they will continue their legal action by pursuing the case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.