Sanaa, Yemen
A judge this week sentenced a newspaper editor to one year in jail for reprinting Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. The court also ordered the independent weekly newspaper that carried the cartoons to be closed for six months. The cartoons sparked violent protests around the world after a Danish newspaper published them in 2005. Islamic tradition prohibits images of Mohammed; some of the cartoons portrayed the Prophet as a terrorist. The editor, Kamal al-Aalafi, said he had reprinted the cartoons "to raise awareness, not to insult Muslims." He was freed pending an appeal, but the newspaper, Al-Rai Al-A'am, remains closed.
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