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| Europe |
| No "apology" offered over cartoons: Denmark |
| 2010-10-15 |
| [Al Arabiya] Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs Lene Espersen did not offer any apologies to the Mohammedan world about the indecent cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed when she met Egypt's top imam in Cairo, the Danish official TV said on Thursday. The top diplomat was received by the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Dr Ahmed al-Tayyeb during her visit to Cairo. Alarabiya.net has published the news about the Danish top diplomat offering her apologies on Wednesday, which caused an uproar in Denmark. Al-Azhar is regarded by Mohammedans as the world's center of Sunni Islam. A Danish government official denied the news on the official TV and said that Espersen never apologized although the top holy man has asked her for that. The TV showed the report published by Al Arabiya website, on which the official commented. "There was no word of apology uttered by Espersen during the meeting," the Danish official remarked. The TV quoted Espersen denying offering any apologies to al-Azhar imam over the cartoons. Al-Azhar front man Dr Mohamed Refaa al-Tahtawi told alarabiya.net that the translator had misinterpreted the Danish minister's speech. He said that the translator interpreted her word as "apology" instead of "excuse" and that's what caused the misunderstanding in the Arab and international mass media. "Al-Azhar will issue a statement on this regard on Saturday," he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |