Danish Muslims sue Mohammad cartoon newspaper

COPENHAGEN, Mar 30 (Reuters) Danish Muslims started legal proceedings today against the newspaper which first printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, accusing it of blasphemy and intentionally insulting Islam .

Earlier this month Denmark's public prosecutor decided not to charge the Jyllands-Posten newspaper and its editors for breaking a blasphemy law by publishing the 12 cartoons last year that sparked outrage across the Muslim world.

''Now the wronged have to use all legal measures to get the court's word and not just a government official on whether the Jyllands-Posten's cartoons and article were legal,'' Michael Christiani Havemann, the lawyer for the 27 Danish groups which have brought the action, said in a statement.

Other newspapers around the world later reprinted the cartoons stirring further protests among Muslims who believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet Mohammad.

At least 50 people died in violence in the West Asia and Asia earlier this year and protesters attacked three Danish embassies and boycotted the country's products.

Both the Danish government and the Jyllands-Posten newspaper have refused to apologise for the cartoons and instead pointed to Danes' right to free speech.

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