Saudi Arabian stores are boycotting Danish products because of those evil infidel cartoons published by Jyllands-Posten. (Hat tip: Judith.)

Riyadh, 26 Jan. (AKI) - A Saudi Arabian company which owns some 60 stores throughtout the country says it will not stock Danish products until Denmark’s largest daily paper apologises for publishing cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Al-Othaim Holding will also boycott any supplier that includes Danish goods, the company’s president Abdullah al-Othaim told the Arab News daily. He said his company’s boycott could affect some 1.3 billion riyals (around 346 million dollars) worth of imports from Denmark.

The row started last September when Jyllands-Posten, a privately owned newspaper, ran an article about freedom of speech focusing on artists who were unwilling to portray Mohammed for fear of being attacked by extremists.

The paper accompanied the article with several depictions of Mohammed including one showing the Islamic prophet with a bomb in his head, prompting protests from officials of Muslim countries and various religious bodies.

Islam regards any images of the prophet as blasphemous.

On Thursday, Danish food giant Arla Foods said in Copenhagen that the ongoing dispute over the cartoons - the paper has refused to apologize - is harming its business with Saudi Arabia.

“More and more supermarkets are taking our products off their shelves and don’t wan’t supplies because consumers no longer want to buy our brand,” Arla Foods spokesman Louis Honore told AFP.