Freedom of Speech Carries Responsibility, Annan Says

UNITED NATIONS —  Secretary-General Kofi Annan chastised newspapers Thursday that continue to publish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in the face of the religious controversy the drawings have ignited.

“Honestly, I do not understand why any newspaper will publish the cartoons today,” he told reporters at the United Nations. “It is insensitive, it is offensive, it is provocative, and they should see what has happened around the world.

“This does not mean that I am against freedom of speech, or freedom of the press,” he added. “But as I have indicated in the past, freedom of speech is not a license. It does entail exercising responsibility and judgment.”

Caricatures of Muhammad first appeared in the Danish right-leaning newspaper Jyllands-Posten last fall and have been reprinted in recent weeks elsewhere in Europe. Their appearance has triggered often-violent protests among Muslims.

The protests continued Thursday, with about 2,000 Muslims rallying in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, Associated Press reported. Elsewhere, Malaysia’s government indefinitely shut down a local newspaper for reprinting a cartoon of Muhammad, and Indonesia canceled badminton games against Denmark because of safety concerns, the news service reported.

When asked about claims this week by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Syria and Iran had inflamed the controversy and incited protests, Annan told reporters that he had “no evidence to that effect.”

He also condemned the violent response by demonstrators.

“They should not attack innocent civilians,” he said. “They should not attack people who are not responsible for the publication of the cartoons.”

At the United Nations, a group of Islamic nations Thursday introduced anti-defamation language into a founding document for a new U.N. Human Rights Council, which is being formed to replace the widely criticized U.N. Human Rights Commission based in Geneva.

The proposed text would “prevent instances of intolerance, discrimination, incitement of hatred and violence arising from any actions against religions, prophets and beliefs which threaten the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The text also says that “defamation of religions and prophets is inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression” and urges states, organizations and the media to exercise “responsibility in promoting tolerance and respect for religious and cultural values.”