WASHINGTON, Feb 20: The editor who initiated the cartoon controversy by publishing blasphemous sketches in a Danish newspaper, has acknowledged that he indulges in self-censorship when needed, but did not feel the need to do so while publishing the caricatures.

“I agree that the freedom to publish things doesn’t mean you publish everything,” said Flemming Rose, the Culture Editor of the Jyllands-Posten, in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post on Sunday.

“Jyllands-Posten would not publish pornographic images or graphic details of dead bodies; swear words rarely make it into our pages.”

He also conceded that “on occasion Jyllands-Posten has refused to print satirical cartoons of Jesus,” but asserted that it was “not because it applies double standards.”

Rejecting the suggestion that the cartoons were childish, irresponsible and a PR stunt, the Danish editor said he had decided to publish the cartoons because there were “widening fears and feelings of intimidation (in Europe) in dealing with issues related to Islam.”

The intention, he said, was to initiate a debate on Islam and encourage “moderate Muslims to speak out — we certainly didn’t intend to trigger violent demonstrations throughout the Muslim world.”

The newspaper’s goal, he said, was “simply to push back self-imposed limits on expression that seemed to be closing in tighter.”

The editor claimed for two weeks he and others at his newspaper witnessed “a half-dozen cases of self-censorship, pitting freedom of speech against the fear of confronting issues about Islam … we decided that this was a legitimate news story to cover.”

He said that by deciding to hold cartoon contest, the newspaper was trying to tell the Muslims living in Denmark that “we are treating them as equals by … integrating you into the Danish tradition of satire … the cartoons are including, rather than excluding, Muslims.”

The editor said that some of the 12 cartoons that generated violent protests across the Islamic world also made fun of Jyllands-Posten, “portraying its cultural editors as a bunch of reactionary provocateurs.”

One cartoon, he said, suggested that the children’s writer who was seeking an illustrator for his book on the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) went public just to get cheap publicity. A third put the head of the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party in a line-up, as if she was a suspected criminal.

Admitting that some people have been offended by the publication of the cartoons, the editor pointed out that “Jyllands-Posten has apologized for that” but insisted that “we cannot apologise for our ‘right to publish material, even offensive material.’ You cannot edit a newspaper if you are paralysed by worries about every possible insult.”

He said he was offended by “things in the paper every day: transcripts of speeches by Osama bin Laden, photos from Abu Ghraib, people insisting that Israel should be erased from the face of the Earth, people saying the Holocaust never happened.

“But that does not mean that I would refrain from printing them as long as they fell within the limits of the law and of the newspaper’s ethical code. That other editors would make different choices is the essence of pluralism.”

He said since the Sept 30 publication of the cartoons, the newspaper has received 104 registered threats, 10 people have been arrested, cartoonists have been forced into hiding because of threats against their lives and Jyllands-Posten’s headquarters have been evacuated several times due to bomb threats.

He claimed while the newspaper had ‘achieved its target of generating a spirited debate in Europe,’ tragic demonstrations throughout the Middle East and Asia were not what ‘we anticipated, much less desired’.