A court in Yemen has sentenced a newspaper editor to a year in jail for reprinting Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The court also ordered the independent weekly newspaper which carried the cartoons to close for six months.The editor, Kamal al-Aalafi, said he had reprinted the cartoons to raise awareness, not to insult Muslims. The cartoons sparked violent protests around the world after a Danish newspaper published them in 2005.
Mr al-Aalafi has been released on bail and will appeal the sentence. The editors of two other Yemeni publications face similar charges. Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits images of Muhammad and other major religious figures.