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Tell the Truth about the Cartoons IAF!

January 11, 2010 12 Comments

By Thomas Fouad Lund-Sørensen*

ammon 300x163 Tell the Truth about the Cartoons IAF! According to Ammon News yesterday the Islamic Action Front (the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood political party) has issued a statement (Arabic / English) about reprint of the cartoons. The content of the statement is pure fabrication and an outright lie. It seems to me, that the IAF could be publishing this untrue statement in order to “fuel hatred and hostility between peoples” to quote from their statement, unless of course it is a pathetic unprofessional way of trying to get some headlines in the local press.

IAF claim that 17 Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoons last Wednesday in solidarity with the cartoonist after the police revealed a plot to kill him. This is absolutely untrue. No cartoons have been reprinted by the Danish press last Wednesday or any other day this year or last year for that matter. Last print was two years ago.

The IAF is also blaming the Arab and Islamic world for their silence. I certainly understand that silence – since nothing was reprinted in Denmark. And by the way – not all kept silent. The Organization of Islamic Countries did issue a statement but with a totally different content than the IAF.

Either IAF is acting in bad faith – a paradox for a movement based on Faith – or they don’t know how to check their facts. Neither supports their credibility as a responsible political party.

For those interested this is what happened. On the first day of the New Year a man armed with an axe and a knife broke into the cartoonist’s house in an attempt to murder him. The cartoonist fled into a safe room while the police shot and wounded the perpetrator. The story was reported extensively all over the world including in Arabic and Jordanian media. The terrorist attack was also widely debated in the Danish press but no republication of the cartoons took place.

So what the IAF could have done – but obviously missed an opportunity to do – was to distance themselves from the murder attempt and in that way distance themselves from terrorism. Maybe it is too much to ask for?

For coverage in the international press check BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera or google.

As regards Ammonnews I have tried to post a short comment refuting the IAF statement, but somehow Ammon does not accept my comment. If somebody could mention this post on Ammon and in Arabic I would be very grateful.

*Ambassador of Denmark in Jordan

Ayman

As expected, because some of them know that their popularity depends on creating such rows and they are not interested in verifying the facts before reacting or sometimes over-reacting as they need that dispute to fuel the hatred among unaware public which in turn results into solidarity with their ideologies.
As for Ammon i occasionally post comments on several websites all of them are always published except on Ammon news.
kinzi

Perhaps they have always gotten away with such statements, and no one questioned it.

Glad you did.
http://www.super.ae/ اخبار الرياضة

way to go… great for telling the truth..
ree7

Apparently, they deleted the article from their website, because i can't find any trace for it. Looks like you did the job without even knowing.
http://blog.eyas-sharaiha.com/ Eyas

@ree7: its still there, http://www.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO…
ree7

Thanks Eyas, but the problem is that the comment I write is not published… What exactly are they doing?! And I've heard that they are promoting themselves as the top website (visitors wise) in Jordan!! this could be a bigger problem in the future.
http://blog.eyas-sharaiha.com/ Eyas

I've heard by numerous people that the comment system of Ammonnews is largely filtered. I haven't tried it myself but I'm guessing its true. I guess the best way to get a point across when an article is _wrong_ is to contact the author or the “editor” directly.
MB

I cannot understand how silly these people are!!! the biggest problem is that there are lots of masses out there who can be led by such articles and fanatic statements. As a non muslim I'm very sorry to say (and I know many moderate understanding muslims who really know their religion) these people are giving the out a very wrong message about Islam. How could the outer world know what's right and what's wrong about a religion if all the representatives are extremists and biasts and aim to cause problems in their own nation. People who accuse whoever is different to be a nonbeliever!! (I respect everyone's right to believe in God or not).
Fred

What is the point here? That the IAF should not criticise a reprint of the cartoons? Or that it is okay to criticise the reprint, as long as Denmark is not wrongfully blamed for it? In other words: Would it have been okay for the Danish Ambassador if the IAF had blamed Norway for reprinting the cartoons?

He refers to the statement of the OIC that according to him was “totally different in content”. The only OIC statement I could find on their website is as follows:
“A spokesman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference condemned the reprint of the blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten as reaction on the alleged attempt on the life of the Danish cartoonist earlier in the month.
The spokesman said that reprint of the cartoons was unfortunate and act of provocation on the part of the Norwegian newspaper as it would not serve any purpose other than to incite intolerance and hatred.”

And the only big difference I can see between that OIC statement and the IAF statement is that the OIC mentions the correct country. Apart from that, both statements show that neither the OIC nor IAF seem to know what the right to freedom of expression is.
But to defend this human right does not seem to be the Ambassador's point either.
Thomas Lund-Sørensen

The IAF should feel free to criticize whatever they want as I can criticize whatever I find unfounded or unjust. Freedom of Expression is for everyone….

I can not sit idle when I read something like that statement. It is unprofessional – and probably bad intended – to issue a press statement about an event that did not take place and which unfortunately have serious implications for our daily life as Danes in the Middle East. To me it looks like the IAF took a two year old press release “17 Danish Papers, Wednesday, a plot revealed yesterday” and changed the date of issue. Had the Cartoons been reprinted by the 17 papers in January 2010 I would not have criticized IAF for issuing such a statement – although I might have gone into an argument about why that could happen. And I for one am tired of seeing organizations and press just getting away with anything without being countered.

As regards the OIC (no deep linking allowed):

“The OIC General Secretariat condemns the reported attempt on the life of Danish cartoonist

Date: 03/01/2010
A spokesman of the General Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Jeddah condemned and expressed concern on the reported attempt on the life of the Danish cartoonist, who drawn the offensive and derogatory cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in 2005.

The OIC spokesperson stated that if the alleged attempt on the life of the Danish cartoonist is proven to have been committed as a reaction to the infamous cartoons of 2005, then it should be rejected and condemned by all Muslims unequivocally as it runs totally against the teachings and values of Islam.”
Fred

What is the point here? That the IAF should not criticise a reprint of the cartoons? Or that it is okay to criticise the reprint, as long as Denmark is not wrongfully blamed for it? In other words: Would it have been okay for the Danish Ambassador if the IAF had blamed Norway for reprinting the cartoons?

He refers to the statement of the OIC that according to him was “totally different in content”. The only OIC statement I could find on their website is as follows:
“A spokesman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference condemned the reprint of the blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten as reaction on the alleged attempt on the life of the Danish cartoonist earlier in the month.
The spokesman said that reprint of the cartoons was unfortunate and act of provocation on the part of the Norwegian newspaper as it would not serve any purpose other than to incite intolerance and hatred.”

And the only big difference I can see between that OIC statement and the IAF statement is that the OIC mentions the correct country. Apart from that, both statements show that neither the OIC nor IAF seem to know what the right to freedom of expression is.
But to defend this human right does not seem to be the Ambassador's point either.
Thomas Lund-Sørensen

The IAF should feel free to criticize whatever they want as I can criticize whatever I find unfounded or unjust. Freedom of Expression is for everyone….

I can not sit idle when I read something like that statement. It is unprofessional – and probably bad intended – to issue a press statement about an event that did not take place and which unfortunately have serious implications for our daily life as Danes in the Middle East. To me it looks like the IAF took a two year old press release “17 Danish Papers, Wednesday, a plot revealed yesterday” and changed the date of issue. Had the Cartoons been reprinted by the 17 papers in January 2010 I would not have criticized IAF for issuing such a statement – although I might have gone into an argument about why that could happen. And I for one am tired of seeing organizations and press just getting away with anything without being countered.

As regards the OIC (no deep linking allowed):

“The OIC General Secretariat condemns the reported attempt on the life of Danish cartoonist

Date: 03/01/2010
A spokesman of the General Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Jeddah condemned and expressed concern on the reported attempt on the life of the Danish cartoonist, who drawn the offensive and derogatory cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in 2005.

The OIC spokesperson stated that if the alleged attempt on the life of the Danish cartoonist is proven to have been committed as a reaction to the infamous cartoons of 2005, then it should be rejected and condemned by all Muslims unequivocally as it runs totally against the teachings and values of Islam.”