Saudis Shut Down Paper for Printing Cartoons
Charles Johnson
Mon Feb 20, 2006 at 6:05 pm PST • Views: 232
Our friends the Saudis have shut down a youth-oriented newspaper that printed the dreaded cartoons of blasphemy: Saudi paper ‘shut’ in cartoon row.
The paper apparently published the cartoons to incite anti-Danish sentiment in Saudi youths, but the Saudi establishment simply doesn’t want them published for any reason.
A newspaper in Saudi Arabia has stopped publishing after printing some of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Shams (Sun) has been suspended as part of an investigation into its decision to publish the cartoons that have caused anger across the Muslim world. It printed them next to articles urging Saudis to take action against Denmark where the cartoons first appeared.
Three weeks ago, Shams, became one of few newspapers in the Arab world to print some of the cartoons. The paper, which is aimed at the country’s young people, said it was doing so to mobilise the campaign in Saudi Arabia against Denmark.
But whatever the motive behind it, the mere fact of publishing the cartoons does not seem to have gone down well with the authorities.
Sources in Saudi Arabia have told the BBC that the ministry of media and culture has launched an investigation into the paper’s decision to print the images.
Frank says: