A number of journalists and media professionals, members of the “Reporters against Abuse of the Prophet” campaign, filed a complaint with Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby on Tuesday, in protest against the French magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing again cartoons that they say insult Prophet Mohamed.
The campaign considered the cartoons a breach of professionalism that would fuel more anger, especially as Muslim journalists and media professionals have already expressed their rejection of terrorism.
The group cited the Johannesburg principles regarding security and freedom of expression that the United Nations issued in 1995 based on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, which states it is necessary to intervene if there is a connection between freedom of expression and violence.
They also said that the French law prohibits any written material or public address that leads to ethnic or religious hatred, which fully applies to the cartoons that the magazine has published.
They asked al-Araby to request the French authorities to stop this violation and force the magazine to apologize. They also asked him to address the United Nations to issue a statement against it, and the European Union to intervene and stop it.
They called for an Arab and Islamic march against this, similar to the march that was held in Paris against terrorism.
Amr al-Wakil, the coordinator of the campaign, said Ambassador Nada al-Agizy received the complaint and will hand it over to al-Araby when he comes back from Geneva. “We are staging a protest in front of the Journalists Syndicate on Thursday,” he said, adding that this is the beginning of popular campaign against insulting the prophet.
He called on the Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh and the Grand Mufti to join the vigil, and on al-Araby to persuade the Arab leaders to stage a similar vigil just as they joined the march in Paris.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
