GROZNY, February 3 (RIA Novosti) - Chechnya's acting prime minister waded into the storm Friday around controversial images of the founder of Islam that appeared in European media and have led to huge protests around the world.
"I am outraged with insulting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that have been published in the Danish press," Ramzan Kadyrov told a news conference. "I would like to remind you that any depiction of the prophet is prohibited by the laws of Islam."
The heated row between the European media and the Muslim world began in September last year when a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published a dozen cartoons of the prophet in an attempt to defend the freedom of expression in the media.
Several leading European publications have reprinted the cartoons recently causing a new wave of public and official protests around the Muslim world. Many Arab countries have called for a boycott of Danish and Norwegian goods.
Kadyrov, the son of the late President of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov, said the reprints appeared in the media to incite religious discord and despite broad public protest among Muslims, who regard these cartoons as a blasphemy. Senior figures from the Muslim community have demanded an official apology.
"If we do not stop these artificial attempts to increase religious tensions, these processes will only spread, as cancerous spores, and will have catastrophic consequences for the world," Kadyrov said.
