COPENHAGEN, Feb 8: The Danish newspaper that first published the anti-Islam caricatures previously turned down cartoons of Jesus as too offensive, a cartoonist said on Wednesday.

“My cartoon, which certainly did not offend any Christians I showed it to, was rejected because the editor felt it would be considered offensive to readers — readers in general, not necessarily Christians,” cartoonist Christoffer Zieler said.

Jens Kaiser, the former editor of Jyllands-Posten’s Sunday edition who turned down the cartoons three years ago, said he had done so because they were no good. “Having seen the cartoons, I found that they were not very good. I failed to see the purportedly provocative nature.

“My fault is that I didn’t tell him what I really meant: The cartoons were bad.” Mr Kaiser said he told Mr Zieler he had not used the cartoons because they were offensive to some readers.—Reuters