Unbelievable. In a panic over the possibility of violence, a journalists’ union has forced a UK tabloid to cancel an Islamic-themed spoof version of the paper: Newsroom revolt forces ‘Star’ to drop its ‘Daily Fatwa’ spoof.

Notice: it’s not the paper’s management that preemptively surrendered to Islamic intimidation. It’s the journalists.

A staff revolt at the Daily Star prevented publication of a spoof Islamic version of the paper called the “Daily Fatwa”.

Muslim commentators said yesterday that the newspaper’s attempt on Monday evening to mock Sharia law could have sparked international protests similar to those that followed publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

The mock-up “Daily Fatwa”, which promised a “Page 3 Burkha Babes Special” and competitions to “Burn a Flag and Win a Corsa” and “Win hooks just like Hamza’s”, was prepared to run as page 6 in Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Star, one of the stable of newspapers owned by publisher Richard Desmond.

The page also included a spoof leader column under the headline “Allah is Great” but left blank save for a stamp with the word “Censored”.

But shortly before the Star was due to go to press on Tuesday evening, concerned members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) called an emergency meeting in the 9th floor canteen of Desmond’s Northern & Shell building beside the River Thames.

After 25 minutes, the NUJ chapel passed a motion saying that the article was “deliberately offensive” to Muslims.

The motion read: “The chapel fears that this editorial content poses a very serious risk of violent and dangerous reprisals from religious fanatics who may take offence at these articles. This may place the staff in great jeopardy. This chapel urges the management to remove the content immediately.”

One source on the newspaper said: “We were worried that the building might be attacked and we thought there would be people outside burning copies of the Daily Star. Many of the newsagents that sell the paper are of Pakistani origin and would have been offended. So we were concerned both for the safety of the staff and the future of the paper.”

UPDATE at 10/19/06 5:20:56 pm:

Here’s the statement of surrender at the National Union of Journalists web site:

The NUJ has strongly condemned moves by the Daily Star to publish a page in Wednesday’s (18/10) issue of the paper which could be viewed as racially prejudiced and provocative and has congratulated the NUJ chapel there for acting swiftly to prevent it.

The page purported to show how the paper would look under Muslim law. It included material that would have given great offence to the Muslim community.

NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear said: “This was an outrageous and hugely irresponsible idea which fortunately our chapel courageously resisted and in so doing protected both the paper and its staff from possible serious repercussions.

“The union’s code of conduct condemns this sort of gratuitous material which is likely to encourage discrimination and hatred in our society. We are calling on the Daily Star to act wisely and responsibly and put this moment of madness behind them for good.”