A redefinition of the freedom of expression that incorporates "standardized" universally accepted religious taboos is becoming increasingly necessary in the light of the enormous row triggered by the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, prominent academics and media experts suggested on Thursday.
They contend that the caricatures, regarded throughout the Islamic world as blasphemous, had nothing to do with freedom of expression, but rather reflect a developed version of "Islamophobia" that started to gather momentum after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US.
"There are religious axioms which are enshrined in the well-established international norms and conventions, and the Western world does know they should be respected," said Ibrahim Ezzedine, chairman of Jordan's state-run Higher Media Council.
"I believe it is high time for such taboos to be standardized in a clearer manner," he added. "The respect for divine ideologies should be given priority on human rights and personal freedoms which are unequivocally protected under international law and agreements."
Ezzedine, a former information minister, spoke as Arab and Islamic outrage over the cartoons threatened to blow up into new dimensions in Arab and Islamic countries, rejecting arguments by the governments of Denmark and other countries that the caricatures were published under the principle of freedom of expression.
He agreed that the publication of the cartoons reflected an "Islamophobia" on the part of some Western countries that sought to establish an across-the-board linkage between Islam and terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US.
"They started to target political Islam and they are now turning their arsenal into the core Islamic ideology," Ezzeddine said.
Muslim masses are increasingly convinced that the caricatures, which were originally published in September by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, were designed to give the impression that the prophet of Islam was a "terrorist."
One of the cartoons showed Mohammed wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb with a burning fuse. Another portrayed him with a bushy, gray beard wielding a sword, his eyes covered by a black rectangle. A third pictured a middle-aged prophet in the desert with a walking stick in front of a donkey and a sunset.
Islam bars any depiction of the prophet even respectful ones, out of concern that such images could lead to idolatry.
The cartoons were reprinted in January by the Norwegian magazine, Magazinet, while several papers in European and other countries volunteered to reprint them over the past week in what appeared to the Islamic world as a gesture of support for the Danish paper.
"They do not realize in the West that an absolute freedom of expression does not exist, and there are ethical controls that should be reckoned with," Taysir Abu Arja, professor of media at the Petra University, said.
"This is why newspapers in certain European countries, like Britain, have refrained from reprinting the caricatures and went further to criticize their publication by European papers," he said.
Abu Arja cited the confiscation of part of the press freedoms in the US by the administration of President George W. Bush for "serving its strategic targets in Iraq and elsewhere" as another evidence of the restricted freedom of press in Western countries.
"I believe freedom of expression should now be redefined so as to underline responsibility and ethics as key elements of a sophisticated press," he said.
Arja added that he was opposed to violent reactions in the Arab and Islamic countries to the cartoons and saw the remedy in starting a "rational dialogue" involving governments, parliaments and other institutions from the two sides.
"However, the ball is now in the court of Denmark and other concerned countries which must acknowledge [their] mistake first and try to correct it," he said.
Taher Adwan, chief editor of the daily newspaper Alarab Alyawm, viewed the solidarity expressed with Jyllands-Posten by a string of newspapers in countries extending from Europe to New Zealand as evidence of "hatred harbored against the world's 1.3 billion Muslims and their culture.
"The blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed reflects an act of ethical deterioration that has nothing to do with the freedom of press, but rather reveals that Islam, as a religion, a culture and a civilization, is becoming a target for a dangerous attack under the pretexts either of reforms or the emancipation of women and now by printing these sacrilegious drawings," he said.
"Certainly, what some Western papers published does not represent the Western societies, but it reflects certain political objectives," he added.
Adwan expected the Vatican's condemnation of the publications of the prophet cartoons "will help to circumvent" the present turmoil.
"We also expect European civil society to step in to put an end to this defamation. Europe's politicians and media men should realize that the first step towards proper ties between the West and the Middle East lies in mutual respect and apologizing for the offense rather than adamantly going ahead with it," he said.
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