Egypt’s al-Azhar slams Prophet cartoons; French embassies on alert

The decision by a French weekly’s publication of cartoons of a naked Prophet Mohammed, was condemned by Egypt’s al-Azhar on Wednesday while the region still reeled from an anti-Islam film that sparked deadly protests.

Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam highest Muslim authority, expressed “its and all Muslims’ utmost rejection of the insistence of a French publication in printing caricatures offensive to Islam and its Prophet, the prophet of humanity,” Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb said in a statement.

He said that such acts “that fuel hatred in the name of freedom are completely rejected... Freedom should stop (where it affects) other people’s freedoms,” in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency.

The new controversy triggered by the pictures in satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo comes as tempers are already running high over an anti-Islam film made in California and posted on the Internet, with at least 30 people killed in unrest.

On Saturday, Tayyeb had called for an international ban on all forms of attacks against Islam after the airing the film “Innocence of Muslims.”

He underlined “the need for an international resolution (banning) any attack on Muslim religious symbols,” in a statement addressed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The resolution should “criminalize attacks on Islamic symbols and on those of other religions, after the violence against those who provoked challenges to world peace and international security,” said Tayyeb.

Meanwhile, Yemeni authorities on Wednesday beefed up security around the French embassy in Sana’a after a French weekly published cartoons of a naked Prophet Mohammed, a security official told AFP.

“Security reinforcements were deployed today (Wednesday) around the French embassy in Sana’a,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “These measures were taken based on the embassy’s request.”

Wednesday’s publication of the controversial images by the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo comes against a background of violent protests across the Muslim world, which first erupted early last week, over an anti-Islam film made in California and posted on the Internet.

The film sparked violent protests also in Yemen.

On September 13, an angry mob of protesters tried to storm the U.S. embassy grounds and clashed with Yemeni security forces, leaving four dead. The embassy has since suspended all consular services for two weeks.

The United States also deployed a 50-strong Marine counter-terrorism unit to Yemen to help protect the embassy in the face of the protests.

Earlier the French foreign ministry in Paris said France would close its embassies and schools in around 20 countries on Friday because of fears of being targeted by angry Muslim protesters after the publication of the cartoons.

Meanwhile, Yemeni cleric Abdul Majid al-Zendani, who is suspected by Washington of financing terrorism, called for legal action against the producers of the anti-Islam film, “Innocence of Muslims.”

Zendani, at a news conference, insisted that the Yemeni government “demand Washington’s embassy file a complaint against the producers of the film.”

He also called on Washington “to officially apologize to Muslims” for the film and for withdrawing “foreign forces” from Yemen.

The U.S. ambassador in Sana’a Gerald Feierstein insisted Tuesday that the Marine reinforcements deployed to Yemen were on a temporary mission with limited duties.

In Tunisia, French schools announced they will close from Wednesday until Monday, the embassy said, adding that it has requested extra security.

“The French school network and Tunisia’s French Institute will be closed from midday on Wednesday... until Monday morning,” the embassy said.

“The embassy has asked the relevant Tunisian authorities to strengthen security around its sites,” it said, adding that the mission would stay closed on Friday, when Islamist protests following weekly prayers are common.

Unlike most Arab countries, Tunisia follows the Western weekend, meaning that Thursday and Friday are normal working days.

“It’s a preventative measure. We have not received any direct threats,” an embassy source told AFP.

There are an estimated 30,000 French citizens living in Tunisia, a former colony with close ties to France, and around 3,000 French children enrolled in Tunisian schools.

Police were deployed outside the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine which printed a series of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed on Wednesday.

The left-wing, libertarian publication’s offices were firebombed last year after it published an edition “guest-edited by Mohammed” that it called Sharia Hebdo.