KARACHI, April 26: Police have registered a blasphemy case against Danish cartoonists and some European newspapers over cartoons of Holy Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) that sparked worldwide protests this year.

Internet search engines, Google.com and Yahoo.com, were also named in the complaint filed by Iqbal Haider, police said.

The case has been registered under a blasphemy law which calls for death penalty for defiling the Prophet.

”We registered the case late Tuesday on the basis of Supreme Court's April 17 order,” local police officer Tariq Malik told AFP.

Police originally refused to register the case, but Iqbal Haider obtained an order from the Supreme Court last week.

The complaint was formally registered at a Karachi police station against Danish cartoonists and editors and publishers of Danish, Irish, Norwegian, French and Italian newspapers for reproducing the cartoons.

”I filed the petition in January 2006 and the Supreme Court ordered the police to register the complaint. The case has been registered under the blasphemy law and under the anti-terrorist act,” Iqbal Haider told AFP.

He said the court would now issue notices to cartoonists, newspapers and websites through the Pakistani foreign ministry.—AFP