By Andrew L. Jaffee

Several Danish Muslim organizations tried to shut down free speech through the courts (and other means of intimidation) — a reaction to the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten. A regional Danish prosecutor first threw out charges against the paper, and now the country’s top prosecutor, Henning Fode, has affirmed the right to free expression… sort of. Fode seemed to leave the door open to some suppression of free speech, but how specifically, I’m not sure. From USATODAY.com:

Denmark’s top prosecutor said Wednesday he will not press charges against the newspaper that first published the Prophet Mohammed drawings that triggered deadly protests by Muslims worldwide. …

Director of Public Prosecutions Henning Fode upheld the decision of a regional prosecutor, who said the drawings published in Jyllands-Posten on Sept. 30 did not violate Danish law. Fode’s decision cannot be appealed.

His ruling said the 12 cartoons did not violate bans on racist and blasphemous speech.

“My decision is that there is no violation of the said rules of the Danish Criminal Code,” Fode said in a statement.

But Fode’s ruling also noted there was “no free and unrestricted right to express opinions about religious subjects” in Denmark. He said Jyllands-Posten had thus been wrong in writing that religious groups had to be ready to put up with “scorn, mockery and ridicule.”

One of the cartoons that depicted Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb “may with good reason be understood as an affront and insult to the Prophet, who is an ideal for believing Muslims,” Fode said.

“However, such a depiction is not an expression of mockery or ridicule, and hardly scorn within the meaning of” Danish law.

A regional prosecutor ruled Jan. 7 that the drawings were protected by freedom of speech laws and did not violate bans on racism and blasphemy. A group of Danish Muslims said at the time they would appeal the ruling to the top prosecutor.

There is “no free and unrestricted right to express opinions about religious subjects” in Denmark? I’m no expert on the Dutch legal system, but I wonder if this is akin to “Shouting fire in a crowded theater,” a phrase used by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Hat-tip to Patrick at Clarity & Resolve