TRIPOLI, Libya, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Libya said Sunday it has decided to shut down its embassy in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, to protest the Danish media's "insult of Prophet Mohammad."
The Libyan foreign ministry said in a statement the move was also in response to the Danish government's failure to take a "responsible position" regarding this issue.
It warned it will adopt "economic measures" against the Scandinavian country, but gave no details.
Tripoli's measure was in reaction to the publication of 12 cartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam, as a terrorist, including one that showed him wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.
The cartoons, which were later published in a Norwegian newspaper, has drawn widespread anger among Arab and Muslim countries and organizations.
In the Palestinian West Bank town of Nablus, dozens of armed youth protested against the Danish media and government, demanding that Copenhagen apologize for insulting Islam's prophet.
Palestinian Supreme Islamic Justice, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, called for mechanisms to "confront the repeated attacks against Prophet Mohammad and religious symbols, such as the holy Koran, which was desecrated and torn up in Israeli and American jails."
In the Jordanian capital, Amman, Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib summoned the Danish ambassador to protest against the depiction of Prophet Mohammad in an insulting manner and called for taking strict measures to prevent its repetition.
Arab and Muslim countries, as well as the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference, have condemned Denmark, which apologized to Saudi Arabia, for not taking enough measures to stop the "media onslaught on Islam."
They have called for boycotting Danish products and for a fatwa, or religious decree, to forbid the consumption of Danish goods.
