Ruling due in French cartoon case

Rahul Tandon
BBC religious affairs reporter

"Charlie Hebdo must be veiled!" says the cover of the magazine

A French court is due to rule in the case of a satirical magazine accused of insulting Muslims by reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The case was brought by the Grand Mosque of Paris and the Union of French Islamic Organisations.

They allege that the magazine, Charlie Hebdo, stigmatised Muslims because of their religion.

Its editor has rejected the allegations saying the cartoons were not an attack on Muslims but on terrorists.

This is not the first time Europe has seen such a case.

A Danish court last October dismissed a similar claim of defamation against the editors of the Jyllaands Post, the Danish newspaper which first published the cartoons.

That led to protests across the Muslim world. Any depiction of the prophet is forbidden under Islamic law.

Crowds

The subsequent decision by Charlie Hebdo to republish them in February 2006 has angered some Muslim groups in France.

Many see the case as a test of freedom of speech and interest in the case has been further increased by the involvement of outgoing interior minister and presidential candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy.

A letter of support he has written for the magazine has been produced as evidence in court.

In it he says he prefers an excess of caricatures to an absence of caricatures.

So what happens if the case is upheld?

Philippe Val, the executive editor of the publication, could be fined nearly $30,000 and jailed for up to six months.

Large crowds crammed into a Paris court last month to hear the evidence in this case.

There is likely to be even more interest when a verdict is delivered.