French papers in cartoon lawsuit

The magazine Charlie Hebdo has also published its own cartoons

France's top Muslim organisation has decided to take legal action against French newspapers that printed cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

The French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM) said it was acting after receiving lawyers' advice.

CFCM lawyer Maitre Hafiz said details of the case were still being worked out, without specifying charges.

Five French newspapers have published the cartoons, that have led to angry protests across the Muslim world.

French President Jacques Chirac has condemned as "overt provocation" decisions to reprint the cartoons.

The 12 cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper.

Details unclear

The CFCM decided to launch legal action against the newspapers that published the caricatures, the council said in a statement after a closed-door meeting between its member groups and lawyers.

The council - representing some five million Muslims in France - has existed for only three years and therefore cannot bring the charges itself.

It is expected that its member groups that have been in existence for more than five years will do so on behalf of the CFCM.

It is remains unclear how many papers will be involved in the case, with satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo being the only confirmed target of the action.

Dailies France Soir, Liberation, Le Figaro and Le Parisien have also published the cartoons.