Danish Muslim imams sought to soothe Muslim anger on Friday after newspapers reprinted a drawing of the prophet Muhammad that caused outrage in Islamic countries two years ago. The newspapers republished one of the drawings in protest against what they said was a plot to murder the cartoonist who drew it. Mostafa Chendid, an imam at the Islamic Faith Community, said Danish media had confused freedom of expression with the freedom to insult others. He also called for Muslims to turn the other cheek rather than pursue violence. Several hundred Muslims gathered in central Copenhagen on Friday to protest the publication of the cartoon, shouting, God is great. Five major Danish newspapers, 10 smaller papers, and a Swedish daily reprinted the drawings. “Freedom of expression gives you the right to think, to speak and to draw what you like… no matter how many terrorist plots there are,” an editorial in the Berlingske Tidende paper noted.
