JEDDAH, Sept 12: A Swedish envoy apologised to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference for the publication in Sweden of a blasphemous cartoon, the OIC said on Wednesday.

The Swedish ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Jan Thesleff, met OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Tuesday at the organisation’s headquarters in Jeddah and offered his “deepest apologies for the controversy created by the publishing of the hurtful depiction,” the 57-nation bloc said in a statement.

The publication of the sketch in the Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda on Aug 18 sparked a fiery debate in the Swedish media on freedom of expression and prompted Muslims in Oerebro, where the newspaper is based, to hold two protests.

Egypt, Iran and Pakistan have lodged protests with the Swedish government and religious leaders in Afghanistan and Jordan have condemned the cartoon.

Ihsanoglu conveyed to Thesleff his “concerns that this kind of irresponsible and provocative incitement in the name of defending freedom of expression ... was leading the international community towards more confrontation and division,” the OIC said.

A series of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published in Denmark biggest daily more than a year ago led to deadly riots in several Muslim countries.—AFP