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AMMAN: A Jordanian court on Monday put on trial in absentia Danish artist Kurt Westergaard who is being sued in the kingdom for blasphemy over a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad.
“A court in Amman began today the trial in absentia of those who insulted the Prophet, including Westergaard and Danish newspapers which published his offensive cartoon,” said Tareq Hawamdeh, lawyer for local journalists and activists who brought the suit.
“Judge Nathir Shehadeh adjourned the trial until May 8 to hear the witnesses,” Hawamdeh said in a statement.
The court subpoenaed Westergaard on April 14 after accusing him of committing “the crime of blasphemy” for depicting the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb in his turban in 2008.
A Jordanian prosecutor summoned Westergaard for questioning that year after 30 independent newspapers, websites and radio stations in Jordan sued him over the cartoon, which was published in at least 17 Danish dailies, sparking violent protests in a number of Muslim countries, including Jordan.
Westergaard, 75, said after the subpoena that “I have not heard about this trial and have not been informed.”
“In any case, I have no intention of going even if I am asked to,” he said on Friday, pointing out that “I do not want to risk becoming familiar with the Jordanian prisons, which would be hell.”
Jordanian MPs have demanded that the government sever ties with Denmark, and Amman has condemned the caricature, warning that it could spark further extremism and harm relations between Denmark and Muslim countries.
