Swedish premier defends press freedom; editor defends publication

Aug 24, 2009, 10:03 GMT

Stockholm - Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, addressing Israeli government anger over a Swedish newspaper article, repeated Monday that his government had no say over what was printed in Swedish media 'and did not review what was published.'

'No one can demand that we should violate the Swedish constitution. Freedom of speech is an indispensable value,' Reinfeldt said on Swedish broadcaster SVT's morning show.

Reinfeldt said he had presented a similar case during the 2006 row over a Danish newspaper's publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, which triggered violent protests.

Meanwhile, Jan Helin - the editor-in-chief of Stockholm daily Aftonbladet that last week published the article accusing Israel soldiers of killing Palestinians and harvesting the organs - said he had 'no regrets' over the publication.

The August 17 article by a freelance writer of Aftonbladet has generated outrage in Israel and demands there for an official apology by Stockholm.

Helin said the article was published in the culture and arts section since it was not a news article 'but it discussed a number of questions about an issue that has been raised previously' also in Israel.

The article states that 'a number of Palestinian families charge that organ harvesting has taken place, but the article does not maintain that it has taken place,' Helin said on SVT's morning show.

Helin said the article was an 'opinion piece, and you have to be allowed to discuss a number of circumstances and pose questions. That is the basis of a free press.'

He added he would 'willingly publish a denial' but said the row was being used for other purposes, noting that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday also attacked Norway for marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of 1920 Nobel Literature Prize winner Knut Hamsun.

Hamsun has been criticized for supporting the Nazi regime in Germany during World War II.

Agneta Lindblom Hulthen, head of the Swedish Union of Journalists, said the union planned protests should the Israeli government decide to prevent Swedish correspondents from receiving work and residence permits in Israel.

She added that the union planned to invite the Israeli ambassador to Sweden to a briefing on Swedish press laws and freedom of speech.