INDEPTH: ISLAM
Muhammad cartoons: a timeline
CBC News Online | February 17, 2006
The reaction to a dozen cartoons depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad has grown since a Danish newspaper published them in the fall of 2005. Apologies, defiance, reprints of the cartoons and demonstrations have escalated the response, to the point that people have died in rallies against the cartoons.
These aren't the first violent reactions in the Muslim world to depictions of Muhammad.
In 2002, a Nigerian newspaper suggested that Muhammad might have chosen his bride from among the Miss World contestants. The resulting riots killed 200 people.
In 1989, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sentenced British author Salman Rushdie to death for his book, The Satanic Verses, based loosely in part on the life of Muhammad. Rushdie's Japanese and Italian translators were both stabbed, the former fatally, in 1991. Rushdie's Norwegian publisher was shot outside his home in 1993.
October 26, 2006:
A Danish court dismisses a lawsuit brought by a group of Muslim organizations against Jyllands-Posten.
"It cannot be ruled out that the drawings have offended some Muslims' honour, but there is no basis to assume that the drawings are, or were conceived as, insulting or that the purpose of the drawings was to present opinions that can belittle Muslims," said the city court in Aarhus.
Jyllands-Posten called the decision a victory for freedom of the press, while the Muslim groups who jointly filed the lawsuit say they plan to launch an appeal.
March 30, 2006:
A group of Muslim organizations files a defamation lawsuit against Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that commissioned and first published the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
The group seeks the equivalent of about $18,800 in damages from Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief and the editor who supervised the cartoon project.
The legal action comes two weeks after Denmark's top prosecutor declined to press criminal charges against the paper, saying the drawings that sparked a firestorm in the Muslim world did not violate laws against racism or blasphemy.
Feb. 17, 2006:
Feb. 17, 2006: Police in Multan, Pakistan, detain 125 people during a rally in a traffic circle where protesters stomped on a Danish flag. Police say the demonstrators were violating a ban on rallies imposed after the riots in Lahore. Police also arrest Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, leader of the radical Muslim group Jamaat al-Dawat. Other demonstrations take place in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Quetta and Peshawar.
Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi, the imam of a mosque in Peshawar, offers a 1.5 million rupee (about $29,000 Cdn) reward for killing one of the cartoonists who portrayed the Prophet Muhammad.
Feb. 15, 2006:
Two people are killed in Peshawar, Pakistan, as more than 70,000 people take to the streets in the third day of violent demonstrations. A protester shoots an eight-year-old boy in the face and kills him. One man was electrocuted when an electric cable was snapped in the gunfire.
In Lahore, Pakistan, 1,500 students rally outside a university. A man is shot dead in a clash with police.
Feb. 14, 2006:
Thousands of demonstrators attack Western-owned businesses in Lahore, Pakistan. Guards at a bank being attacked shoot two men dead. Protesters also set dozens of vehicles on fire and stage a sit-in at a provincial legislature.
In a statement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he "regret[s] the publication" of the Muhammad cartoons in Canadian media outlets, and "commend[s] the Canadian Muslim community for voicing its opinion peacefully, respectfully and democratically."
The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations warns that publishing the cartoons could endanger Canadian soldiers. "I think the fact that people choose to reprint the cartoons could put our troops in danger," says spokesperson Riad Saloojee.
In Canada, Indigo Books refuses to put the latest issue of the Western Standard, displaying eight of the original Danish cartoons of Muhammad, on its shelves. Air Canada, which normally carries the magazine in its lounges and some flights, also pulls the issue.
Feb. 13, 2006:
Alberta-based Western Standard magazine publishes eight of the original 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. "I'm doing something completely normal. I'm publishing the centre of a controversy. That's what news magazines do," says publisher Ezra Levant.
Police in Peshawar, Pakistan fire tear gas and use batons to disperse a crowd of 7,000 students at a Christian university. The protesters threw rocks and broke windows and tried to march on the provincial governor's mansion.
Feb. 11, 2006:
Peaceful protests take place in Canada's two largest cities. About 250 Muslims demonstrate near Montreal's McGill University and 200 people march in front of the Danish consulate in Toronto.
Feb. 10, 2006:
Protests continue around the world: in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Kenya and Russia.
A Swedish internet hosting company takes down the website of an anti-immigrant newspaper that asked readers to send in their own Mohammad cartoons.
The editor of a Norwegian Christian newspaper apologizes for reprinting the cartoons in January.
Feb. 9, 2006:
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urges newspaper editors around the world to stop republishing the cartoons. "It is insensitive. It is offensive. It is provocative, and they should see what has happened around the world," he says.
Police in Laval, Que. increase security around two area Mosques that were vandalized days earlier. Windows were smashed at the Islamic Cultural Centre and the Al-Hissane Islamic Centre. Police believe the vandalism may have been a reaction to the ongoing violence overseas.
Meanwhile, Muslim community leaders ask people to avoid upcoming demonstrations in Montreal. They fear violence may erupt.
Feb. 8, 2006:
Ahmed Akkari, the Danish Islamic scholar who brought cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad to the attention of Muslim leaders around the world, says he did it to get an apology from the newspaper, not to encourage violent demonstrations
The Ulama Council, a leading group of Islamic clerics, calls for an end to violent demonstrations. "We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence," the council says.
U.S. President George W. Bush also calls for an end to the violence. "We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press," he says.
Police fire into the air to disperse hundreds of protesters outside the U.S. military base in Qalat, Afghanistan. Police then fire into the crowd killing four and wounding 20.
The University of Prince Edward Island's student newspaper publishes the cartoons. Two thousand copies of The Cadre are distributed, but university administration orders them removed saying the cartoons have already caused enough violence.
Meanwhile, a professor at St. Mary's University in Halifax vows to continue his case for freedom of expression after being told to take copies of the caricatures down from his office door. He says he'll put them up in his classroom instead.
The controversial cartoons also caused some turmoil in Calgary after copies were posted in a trendy shopping district. Calgary police say letter-sized posters of one of the cartoons were taped to light standards along 10 St. They were quickly taken down after several complaints.
Alaa Elsayed, a Muslim imam living in Calgary, says he plans to lodge a formal hate crime complaint over the matter.
Feb. 7, 2006:
Several hundred protesters, some armed, storm the NATO base in Maymana, the headquarters of a provincial reconstruction team of about 100 Norwegian and Finnish troops. Three Afghans are killed in the melée.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls the unrest over the caricatures a "growing global crisis." "I want to appeal and reach out to all people and countries in the Muslim world. Let us work together in the spirit of mutual respect and tolerance," he says.
The same day, one of Canada's leading human rights advocates says Canadian newspapers should publish the cartoons, arguing that by not printing them, the media jeopardizes Canada's culture of freedom of expression and fails to properly inform its citizens.
Montreal lawyer Julius Grey made the comments to a classroom packed with 60 law students at the University of Ottawa.
Feb. 6, 2006:
Four people are killed in Afghanistan during protests against the cartoons depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. Two demonstrators are killed by police gunfire in Mihtarlam and two others are killed when American troops fire on a crowd in Bagram. New protests erupt other in parts of the Middle East and Asia, as well.
Feb. 5, 2006:
Protests against the cartoons are held in 25 countries. Thousands of protestors rampage through a Christian neighbourhood in Beirut and set fire to the Danish Embassy. Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan Sabei submits his resignation.
Feb. 4, 2006:
The embassies of Denmark and Norway in Damascus, Syria, are set ablaze during a rally. The two countries condemn the Syrian government for failing to stop the attacks.
Feb. 3, 2006:
Le Devoir publishes one of the cartoons of Muhammad, the only Canadian publication to do so.
Protestors gather in London, Iraq, Pakistan and Indonesia. Two Danish flags are burned at the protest in London.
Feb. 2, 2006:
Newspapers in the U.S., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the U.K., Iceland, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Greenland, Bulgaria, Portugal and Jordan reprint the cartoons. The newspapers claim they reprinted them as a defence of freedom of speech and the right to publish.
The managing editor of France Soir, a Paris daily, is fired over his decision to run the cartoons under the headline "Yes, we have the right to caricature God."
Jan. 30, 2006:
Masked gunmen storm an EU office in Gaza City to protest the cartoons. Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which originally printed the cartoons, posts an apology on its website, saying it regrets offending Muslims, but stands by its decision to carry the cartoons. Danish Muslims later demand a clearer apology, saying the one posted was "ambiguous."
Jan. 26, 2006:
Saudi Arabia withdraws its ambassador to Denmark. Danish companies report boycotts and stores removing Danish products from their shelves.
Jan. 10, 2006:
Magazinet, a Christian newspaper in Norway, reprints the cartoons.
Jan. 1, 2006:
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks out against "attempts to demonize groups of people on the basis of their religion," but says Denmark is committed to freedom of speech.
November-December 2005:
Danish Muslims travel throughout the Middle East to tell people about the cartoons and call for protest. They carry with them not only the published cartoons, but also a few others – even more offensive – that were sent to them by private Danish citizens.
Oct. 14, 2005:
Members of 16 Danish Muslim organizations condemn Jyllands-Posten, claiming the newspaper acted provocatively and insulted Muslim sensibilities.
Oct. 12, 2005:
The Palestinian representative in Denmark and ambassadors from 10 countries with Muslin populations send a letter to Fogh Rasmussen demanding a meeting with him and urging action against Jyllands-Posten. Fogh Rasmussen would later decline to meet with them.
Sept. 30, 2005:
Jyllands-Posten publishes 12 drawings of Muhammad, after asking cartoonists to send in satirical drawings of the prophet.
One of the drawings depicts a Danish boy, named "Muhammad," writing in Arabic on a chalkboard: "Jyllands-Posten's journalists are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs."
Flemming Rose, the paper's cultural editor, said the call for pictures was a reaction to the rising number of situations in which artists and writers censor themselves out of fear of radical Islamists.
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