BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

20/01/2008

Editor Who Re-Printed Prophet Mohammed Cartoons In Belarus Paper To Be Imprisoned For Three Years

Jupiter Kalambakal - AHN News Writer

Minsk, Belarus (AHN) - An editor in Belarus has been sentenced to prison for printing cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed that some Muslims considered blasphemous. The editor had printed cartoons of Mohammed that had been published originally published in a Danish paper. The cartoons sparked riots in the Muslim world.

Alexander Sdvizhkov, 49, was sentenced to three years imprison after he was found guilty of "inciting to religious hatred."

Sdvizhkov was found guilty of breaking laws against inciting racial or religious hatred, according to Alexei Karol, editor of the now defunct newspaper Zgoda. Under Islamic conventions, portraying images of the Prophet is considered blasphemous.

In February 2006, Sdvizhkov, Zgoda's deputy editor, decided to print the cartoons, which were copies of those that sparked international protests after publication in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the paper shut the following month, calling the publication of the cartoon "a provocation against the state." Sdvizhkov was arrested and charged in November 2007 when he returned to Belarus following several months of living in Russia and Ukraine.

The Minsk City Court imposed its sentence Friday after a closed-door trial. Sdvizhkov said he would appeal.

Belarusian Islamic leader Ismail Voronovich called the sentence excessively harsh.

In Vienna, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe protested the sentence and called for the release of Sdvizhkov.

Source:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009774400