Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today criticised European newspapers for publishing caricatures satirising Prophet Muhammad, decribing it as "a blatant disregard for Islamic sensitivities."

He also expressed regret that publications in Norway, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Spain had deemed it fit to reproduce the caricature, which was first carried in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten .

"This is a deliberate act of provocation. They should cease and desist from doing so," said Abdullah, who is chairperson of the Organisation of Islamic Organisation (OIC).

In the Bernama report, he stopped short of condoning the public outburst of anger that have occurred elsewhere around the world, however, and called upon Malaysians to remain calm and rational.

"Let the perpetrators of the insult see the gravity of their own mistakes which only they themselves can and should correct," he said.

Twelve caricatures depicting the prophet as a terrorist, first published by the Jyllands-Posten last September, have sparked demonstrations by Muslims in capitals throughout the world.

Ambassadors have been recalled by both governments that defended the newspapers as well as those that criticised them.

Indonesians yesterday stormed the building housing the Danish embassy in Jakarta before tearing down and burning the Danish flag.

Freedom of expression

Pakistan's Parliament yesterday passed a resolution condemning the drawings while Danish companies in West Asia, particularly in the Middle East, reported drastic drops in sales.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that freedom of the press should not be an excuse for insulting religions, and expressed concern over the controversy.

Many European newspapers defended the right to publish the cartoons as part of the West's 'culture' of freedom of expression.

"Because no religious dogma can impose itself on a democratic and secular society, France Soir is publishing the incriminating caricatures," said the French daily, while Germany's Die Welt said that a "right to blasphemy" was part of democratic freedoms.

However, Sohaib Bencheikh a columnist for the France Soir which saw one of its editors dismissed over the incident, decried the loss of the "sense of the sacred".

"One must find the borders between freedom of expression and freedom to protect the sacred," said Bencheikh.

"Unfortunately, the West has lost its sense of the sacred."