The Estonian newspaper KesKus has reprinted the infamous Mohammed cartoons, originally published in September 2005 by Danish paper Jyllands Posten, that sparked outrage amongst Muslims worldwide. Editor in chief Juku-Kalle Raid explained the decision to print the cartoons as follows: "We published the cartoons so that people can see what they are criticising. My decision was immediate but we took our time because we did not want to add to the already high tensions."

The Estonian Prime Minister has stated that any adverse reaction to the publication of the cartoons will be the responsibility of the newspaper, he additionally warned that freedom of expression must be exercised with caution: "Freedom of the press must be accompanied with responsibility ... All of us have seen the reaction to these cartoons. If anything happens, KesKus executives will be responsible."

It remains to be seen what kind of reaction will result from the re-printing of the cartoons. However, one has to wonder whether KesKus has waited to long to re-print and therefore risks re-igniting the cartoons row, which of late had seemed to have somewhat subsided, and thus directly contravening the objective behind the decision to re-print.

Source: Interfax For full coverage of the cartoon controversy see Editors Weblog previous postings and here and here