Reprinting insulting cartoons illegal, says Russia

Printing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) against the country’s laws, says media watchdog

MOSCOW: Russia’s media watchdog on Friday warned publications that printing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was against the country’s laws and ethical norms following the Charlie Hebdo attack in France.

“The publication in Russian media of such caricatures goes against ethical and moral norms worked out over centuries,” said the media and communications watchdog Roskomnadzor.

“Disseminating caricatures on religious themes in the media can be considered insulting or humiliating to the representatives of religious confessions and groups, and qualified as inciting ethnic and religious hatred,” an offence under Russian law, it said. The publication would also violate the Russian media and anti-extremism laws, the watchdog said, adding that it was asking Russian media to “refrain from publishing caricatures that can be seen as a violation”.

The watchdog published the statement as a response to the ongoing debate on the “legality of publishing caricatures depicting religious objects of worship which affect feelings of religious people.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2015.