or at least Danish-speakers: Might anyone be kind to translate the key passages from today’s Danish court decision rejecting a libel lawsuit against the Jyllands-Posten newspaper over the newspaper’s publication of the Mohammed cartoons? Short excerpts are quoted in this BBC story, but I was hoping someone might be kind enough to provide a more detailed translation of the important parts. Many thanks in advance. In the meantime, here are some excerpts from the BBC account:
[The opinion stated that the cartoons were] “not offensive … even if the text accompanying the pictures could be read as being derogatory and mocking …. Of course it cannot be excluded that the drawings offended some Muslims …. But there is no sufficient reason to assume that the cartoons are or were intended to be insulting … or put forward ideas that could hurt the standing of Muslims in society.”
[Earlier in the story:] “It is not up to the court to decide if Muslims will have hard feelings or not,” Ameer ul-Azeem, spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami, told the Associated Press news agency. His group belongs to an Islamic alliance that organised mass protests across Pakistan earlier this year.
In Syria, where a mob attacked and set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in February, legislator Mohammed Habash said … “[w]hat the newspaper did represents a true insult to millions of Muslims who do not follow Danish laws.” … Even if the text accompanying the pictures could be read as being derogatory and mocking, the cartoons are not offensive ….
[Plaintiffs] accused the paper of publishing text and cartoons which were “offensive and insulting” to Muhammad[, arguing that the cartoons] “attacked the honour of believers because they portrayed the Prophet as war-like and criminal and made a clear link between Muhammad, war and terrorism.”