Trial in absentia of Danish cartoonist adjourned until May 22

May 11, 2011, 14:06 GMT

Amman - An Amman court on Wednesday adjourned until May 22 the trial in absentia of cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and 19 other Danish editors and journalists, who are accused of publishing 'blasphemous' images of the Prophet Mohammed six years ago.

Judicial sources said the defendants did not show up for the third session of the trial that started on April 25 or ask lawyers to represent them.

The lawsuit has been filed by the 'God's Prophet Unites Us Campaign' of Jordanian ex-ministers, lawmakers, lawyers, academics and journalists.

Westergaard published 12 satirical cartoons of the prophet in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005, stirring an outrage in the Arab and Islamic worlds and prompting a boycott of Danish products.

One of them shows the Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb with its fuse lit, instead of a turban, on his head.

'The court decided to adjourn the hearings for two weeks to allow time for hearing support witnesses,' the campaign's lawyer, Tareq Hawamdeh, told the German Press Agency dpa.

'Because not enough time has passed since the previous session on Sunday, we have been unable to arrange for the presence of the witnesses,' he said.

On Sunday, the tribunal heard evidence from two leading members of the campaign, who said that the cartoons sought to depict Islam as a religion that preaches terrorism.

The charge list, which has been approved by the Jordanian public prosecutor, includes 'blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed and humiliation of Islam and Muslims,' which are punishable under the Jordanian penal code, Hawamdeh said.

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