Swedish PM invites Muslim ambassadors to discuss cartoon
Sweden’s prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has invited ambassadors from Muslim countries to talks over a drawing of the Prophet Mohammed in a Swedish newspaper.
The move comes as Reinfeldt tries to prevent an international crisis over the cartoon, which has drawn protests from Swedish Muslim groups and formal complaints from Muslim countries including Pakistan and Iran.
Reinfeldt’s spokesman Oscar Hallen said the prime minister had invited “ambassadors from Arabic and Muslim countries” to a meeting tomorrow. He did not know which countries would be represented.
The sketch by Swedish artist Lars Vilks showed the prophet’s head on a dog’s body. It was published in an August 19 editorial in the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper, which criticised Swedish art galleries for refusing to display Vilks’ drawings.
Islamic law is interpreted as forbidding any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.
Reinfeldt has been trying to reach out to Muslim groups in Sweden and abroad to avoid a repeat of last year’s mass protests in Muslim countries over Danish newspaper cartoons of the prophet.
