Private television station TV3 had aired images of the controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad during its prime-time news programme early this month, making it the second TV station to have done so.

Malaysiakini obtained a copy of the three-minute footage where on Feb 3, the station's 'Bulletin Utama' depicted the caricatures in a report discussing press freedom in the wake of the Muslim outrage over the publication of such images.

The Malay-language news report, entitled 'Issue of belittling Prophet Muhammad: Don't abuse press freedom', showed the same images which led to the suspension of several newspapers in Malaysia.

The TV3 report showed a reader holding a Spanish-language newspaper which had reproduced two of the controversial caricatures.

The camera then zoomed in for approximately 13 seconds with the images clearly visible.

One of the caricatures showed the Prophet flanked by two veiled women and another where he is talking to God. However, the captions accompanying them were not visible.

The report went on to say that the action of a French newspaper of reproducing the caricatures - which first appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last September - "does not make sense".

It was accompanied with a footage of a rowdy demonstration in Indonesia where eggs, chairs and tomatoes, were thrown at the Danish embassy in Jakarta.

The report questioned whether Western countries put the defence of press freedom before the respect of religious beliefs.

It also quoted Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar on the action of some European newspapers of reproducing the caricatures in the name of press freedom.

"This is wrong. Let us not abuse freedom without looking at people's sensitivity, without respect to the culture and diversity which exist in this world," said the minister.

However, TV3 did blur the image of the Prophet when one of the caricatures was displayed as the backdrop behind the two newscasters at the beginning of the report.

Last Friday, malaysiakini reported that state-owned RTM's TV2 had aired similar images.

The government is currently mulling on what action to take against the TV station.

It is believed that two other free-to-air stations - state-owned TV1 and Umno-linked ntv7 - had also broadcasted similar images.

Three dailies suspended

The government has suspended three newspapers over the reproduction of the images.

Two weeks ago, English-language daily Sarawak Tribune was suspended indefinitely while last week, the evening edition of Chinese-language Guangming Daily was slapped with a two-week suspension.

Both had carried a wire service photo depicting a reader with a foreign newspaper which had reprinted one of the caricatures.

On Saturday, Chinese-language afternoon daily Berita Petang became the second newspaper in Sarawak to be suspended by the government for reproducing the caricatures considered blasphemous by Muslims.

According to the Internal Security Ministry, the newspaper in its Feb 4 edition published a "seditious article" entitled 'We are prepared to launch a Holy War', which was accompanied by some of the caricatures.

The government had ordered a ban on the "printing, importing, producing, re-producing, publishing, sale, manufacturing and distributing" of the caricatures as they could "harm public peace and security".

Another daily, 160-year-old New Straits Times faced an almost similar fate but got away scot free after the government accepted its front-page apology over the publication of a syndicated cartoon which lampooned the caricature issue.

TV3 is owned by Umno-linked Media Prima, the country's biggest media conglomerate which include NST and ntv7 among its stable.