Danish PM, Iran president condemn Prophet cartoons

COPENHAGEN, Oct 8 (Reuters) Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen denounced members of the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples' Party (DPP) youth wing today for drawing humiliating cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said those who insulted the Prophet were ''low life'' devoid of human values, the student news agency ISNA reported.

The two leaders' condemnations followed Danish state TV's airing on Friday of amateur video footage showing members of the DPP youth wing at a summer camp in August, drinking, singing and taking part in a competition to draw images mocking the Prophet.

''I strongly condemn the behaviour of members of the youth wing of the Danish Peoples' Party,'' Rasmussen told Ritzau news agency.

''It is unacceptable behaviour by a small group of young people.

Their tasteless behaviour in no way represents the way the Danish people or young Danish people view Muslims or Islam,'' Rasmussen said.

Most Muslims regard depiction of the Prophet as offensive.

Ahmadinejad, referring to the cartoons shown on Danish television, told a cabinet meeting ''Those who make these insults are low life, lost, without human values...,'' ISNA said.

''Such measures reveal the depth of weakness and failure of the leaders of liberalism,'' Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

Just over a year ago the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, including one showing him with a bomb in his turban. Muslim clerics denounced them as blasphemous, sparking protests in which more than 50 people died in Asia, Africa and the West Asia.

Rasmussen tried then to assuage Muslim anger but said the Danish nation could not be held responsible for what was published by independent media. Angry Muslims demonstrated and boycotted Danish goods in several countries in the West Asia.

Yesterday, Muslim leaders in Denmark condemned the video footage but said they would not be provoked into taking action.

Last year, a number of Danish imams travelled to Egypt and Lebanon to rally support among Muslim leaders for protests against the Jyllands-Posten cartoons.

Other parties' youth wings criticised the DPP and said they would refuse to attend any political events where DPP members were present.

Senior DPP members refused to apologise and party leader Pia Kjaersgaard criticised media for airing the footage of what she called a private party.

The DPP rose to prominence when it campaigned for the 2001 election on a strongly anti-immigrant platform combined with calls for higher welfare spending. It has been accused of racism but is a political ally of Rasmussen's centre-right coalition.

REUTERS DKS RAI0125