UK courts may hear Muhammad cartoon case...

A perversion of law...

Justice minister calls it unacceptable that proposed lawsuit against Danish newspapers could be heard in British court system.

Because EU member states generally recognise the authority of each other’s legal systems, Denmark may be forced to pay damages through the British courts if plaintiffs win their lawsuit over the printing of the Mohammed cartoons.
Saudi lawyer Faisal Yamani (seen right) has taken the case to court in London – claiming to have done so on behalf of some 95,000 descendants of the prophet Mohammed – saying the drawings amount to defamation against them and the Islamic faith.

In August last year, Yamani requested that 11 Danish newspapers remove all the relevant images from their websites and issue apologies along with promises that the images would never be printed again. Politiken was the only newspaper to agree to the demand, having acquiesced last month.

But justice minister Lars Barfoed has now asked the European Commission to step in to stop the case from being heard in the UK. Barfoed said that while he respected the legal cooperation among EU member states, the proposed lawsuit amounts to a restriction on the freedom of expression.