Friday, February 10, 2006
Sweden shuts website over cartoon
Sweden shuts website over cartoon
The Swedish government has moved to shut down the website of a far-right political party's newspaper over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Swedish government has moved to shut down the website of a far-right political party's newspaper over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The site's host, Levonline, pulled the plug on the website of the Swedish Democrats' SD-Kuriren newspaper after consulting with the government.
It is believed to be the first time a Western government has intervened to block a publication in the growing row.
Kuriren editor Richard Jomshof said the government was breaking the law.
"We have to do something about it. This is illegal. They can't do this just because we are a small magazine," he told the BBC News website.
The Swedish Democrats are a small anti-immigrant party with no representatives in parliament, but a few local elected officials.
Jomshof said the newspaper had a print run of about 30,000.
He had asked readers to send in their own Muhammad cartoons, but he denies intending to offend Muslims.
His website briefly posted a picture showing Muhammad from the rear, looking into a mirror, with his eyes blacked out - an image he said was about self-censorship.
taken from the BBC Online
click here for full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4700414.stm
