the fate of an imprisoned Egyptian sheikh suspected of defaming Islam.
The delegation headed by Bishop of Viborg Karsten Nissen reportedly met with several Muslim religious leaders and government officials, including Egyptian Mufti Ali Gomaa, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and bishops of the Orthodox and Anglican churches in Cairo.
In published statements, Nissen said the aim of the journey was "to say that Danes don’t hate Muslims and that Christians want to live in peace with Muslims in Denmark and in the rest of the world."
The cartoons, including one showing the prophet with a bomb-shaped turban, were first published in September by Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten newspaper, and later reprinted by media in several European countries. Although the visit "was not meant to apologize on behalf of the Danish government or the daily," the bishop told reporters that his delegation "regretted" the cartoons.
Any image of the prophet, and especially caricatures, are considered blasphemous by many Muslims.
CARTOONS "PROVOCATION"
Steen Skovsgaard, a bishop in the delegation, told Turkish online newspaper Zaman.com that the cartoons "are entirely for provocation." He was quoted as saying that "freedom of speech did not include humiliation and insulting Muslims." But he made clear that violence was not the answer as Muslims could "seek remedy through the courts as Denmark is a state of law."
Skovsgard suggested that the cartoon crisis "is the beginning of a new dialogue rather than a partition." Although the Danish Foreign Ministry apparently paid for the airfare tickets, the bishop denied that his delegation was part of an official visit on behalf of the government.
Michael Fitzgerald, who is in Egypt ‘apostolic nuncio’, the Vatican title for an ambassador,
also expressed his concern. He told the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Sheikh Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, that these events should not damage "the dialogues between the members of the two religions."
INTERNATIONAL LAW
Tantawi agreed, but said his supporters wanted "an abiding international law criminalizing insulting religions, prophets and sanctities," although he did not specify whether this would be extended to perceived anti-Semitic and anti-Christian cartoons printed regularly in papers across the Middle East.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, the Muslim world’s two main political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions, the Internet news website IslamOnline.net reported.
It was not immediately clear what impact the church visit and discussions would have on Sunday’s court hearing for Egyptian Sheikh Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein Mohammed El-Akkad, who has been imprisoned for 11 months in Cairo’s Tora Mazraa detention facility without formal charges, on suspicion of blasphemy, despite international concern.
BLASPHEMY CASE?
El-Akkad’s lawyer, Athanasius William, said the court could renew El-Akkad’s detention for six months, open a blasphemy case or release him, Christian news agency Compass Direct reported. "In all of his interrogations, they are accusing him of saying things against the prophet Mohammad, or the Quran, or the prophet’s friends,” the lawyer was quoted as saying.
The sheikh reportedly faced increased abuse since two other suspects arrested with him reportedly spread rumors that he had become a Christian and was baptizing Muslims into Christianity. Guards, fellow prisoners, and security officials allegedly verbally attacked El-Akkad over the issue.
In one incident in September an imprisoned bodybuilder from an extremist group attacked El-Akkad and beat him until fellow cellmates intervened, Compass Direct reported.
ISLAMIC GROUP
An engineer by profession, El-Akkad became a sheikh, the word used for a Muslim religious leader, as a member of fundamentalist Islamic group Tabligh and Da’wah. The group was reportedly active in proselytizing non-Muslims but strictly opposed violence. He wrote two books Islam: the Religion, and Islam and Terrorism, completed in 2005, which apparently makes a case for love, peace and understanding from an Islamic context.
The 57-year old spent time in jail seven years ago under similarly unclear circumstances, Compass Direct said. Human rights observers say El-Akkad’s arrest has been particularly hard on his 7-year-old son, Ahmed El-Akkad, who suffers from Asperger Syndrome, a mild form of autism.
Egypt’s emergency law, which has been in place since 1981, grants authorities the power to arrest and detain suspects without filing official charges. At the end of 2005, at least 15,000 people in Egypt remained in detention without charge, human rights watchers said. (With reports from Egypt, BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and BosNewsLife Research).
