TUNIS, Tunisia, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Muslim organizations Saturday threatened economic sanctions against Denmark and Norway for publishing cartoons insulting Islam and Prophet Mohammad.
A spokesman for the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, set up by the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference, said the member countries may take economic measures against the "attacks on Islam's symbols and sanctity."
Mohammad Ghomari from ISESCO told a news conference in Tunis it was "unacceptable to attack Prophet Mohammad," and accused unnamed Western countries of "double standards in dealing with such unjustified attacks against Islam."
The official was referring to cartoons recently published by two Danish and Norwegian newspapers, including one that showed Prophet Mohammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.
The Danish government has apologized for their publication.
In Saudi Arabia, the Islamic World Association called on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to take firm measures against institutions, media and individuals who "insult the messages of God and the prophets."
In a letter to Annan, the association's chief, Abdullah al-Tureiki, urged the international community to issued a clear resolution that criminalizes insulting the symbols and message of Islam.
He called for preventing "media campaigns against Islam and their instigation of hatred and discrimination against the Muslim people, which ignite clashes of civilizations among the different religions."
Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Akmaluddin Ihsan Oglu, told journalists in the Saudi port city of Jeddah the organization decided to boycott an event organized by a Danish cultural and development center that is partially sponsored by the Danish government.
He said the boycott is to protest the depiction of the prophet and to urge the Danish authorities to "deal seriously with this issue, which insulted and angered hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world."
Oglu, who described the incidents as "Islamophobic," insisted the intentional publication of these cartoons was to disparage the sentiments of Muslims, saying "they are not innocent or part of free expression."
