Danish cartoonist to sue over anti-Islam film

Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb in his turban, plans to sue the Dutch politician Geert Wilders for using his cartoon in the film without his permission.

Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard told Danish TV2 that he will sue Geert Wilders shortly. He said: "Wilders has the right to make his movie but he has not permission to use my drawing." Westergaard said his cartoon was a protest against terrorism, not against Islam as a whole, and Wilders used his paintings to convey the wrong message. His illustration two years ago sparked riots in Denmark and other parts of the world. He lives in hiding in Denmark, just like Wilders in Netherlands. He added:

This has nothing to do with freedom of speech…I will not accept my cartoon being taken out of its original context and used in a completely different one.

The Danish journalists’ union will be suing on Westergaard’s behalf for copyright violation. Westergaard fears for his life once again because of Wilder’s film, which displayed his cartoon twice. It may surprise some radical Muslims that the two men they have uniformly condemned as anti-Islamic do not seem to see eye-to-eye, says BBC religious affairs correspondent Frances Harrison. Westergaard’s cartoon was published again by the Danish press and attracted more protests worldwide. It is ironic that both of these men created huge controversies against Islam and one of them is suing the other.