Danish PM, Iran president condemn Muhammad cartoons
Rasmussen denounces members of anti-immigrant Danish Peoples' Party for humiliating Mohammad cartoons. In Iran, Ahmadinejad calls cartoonists 'low lifes' devoid of human values
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen denounced members of the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples' Party (DPP) youth wing on Sunday for drawing humiliating cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said those who insulted the prophet were "low lifes," cevoid of human values, the student news agency ISNA reported.
The two leaders' condemnations followed Danish state TV's airing on Friday of amateur video footage showing members of the DPP youth wing at a summer camp in August, drinking, singing and taking part in a competition to draw images mocking the prophet.
"I strongly condemn the behaviour of members of the youth wing of the Danish Peoples' Party," Rasmussen told Ritzau news agency.
"It is unacceptable behaviour by a small group of young people. Their tasteless behavior in no way represents the way the Danish people or young Danish people view Muslims or Islam," Rasmussen said.
Most Muslims regard depiction of the Prophet as offensive.
Iran slams caricatures
Ahmadinejad, referring to the cartoons shown on Danish television, told a cabinet meeting "those who make these insults are low life, lost, without human values...," ISNA said.
"Such measures reveal the depth of weakness and failure of the leaders of liberalism," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
Just over a year ago the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, including one showing him with a bomb in his turban. Muslim clerics denounced them as blasphemous, sparking protests in which more than 50 people died in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Rasmussen tried then to assuage Muslim anger but said the Danish nation could not be held responsible for what was published by independent media. Angry Muslims demonstrated and boycotted Danish goods in several countries in the Middle East.
On Saturday, Muslim leaders in Denmark condemned the video footage but said they would not be provoked into taking action.
Last year, a number of Danish imams travelled to Egypt and Lebanon to rally support among Muslim leaders for protests against the Jyllands-Posten cartoons.
Other parties' youth wings criticised the DPP and said they would refuse to attend any political events where DPP members were present.
Senior DPP members refused to apologize and party leader Pia Kjaersgaard criticized media for airing the footage of what she called a private party.
The DPP rose to prominence when it campaigned for the 2001 election on a strongly anti-immigrant platform combined with calls for higher welfare spending. It has been accused of racism but is a political ally of Rasmussen's centre-right coalition.
