Speaking after an extraordinary session of the Islamic community's leadership in Sarajevo on Tuesday, Mustafa Ceric told reporters that there was no doubt that freedom of expression could not justify hurting another's feelings and that the cartoons, published first in a Danish daily, had gravely insulted the Muslims.
The fact that other European papers have carried the controversial cartoons proves that the Danish case is not an isolated incident and that Islam and Muslims can be belittled in Europe, Ceric said.
"The message we can hear these days in Europe is really ugly, particularly for Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the genocide in Srebrenica. The attitude of the European media towards the highest values of Islam would not be worth mentioning if it did not hide something much more dangerous - hatred towards Islam and Muslims," Ceric said, adding that the Islamic community in Bosnia urged the European media to stop spreading Islamophobia.
He also called on Muslims throughout the world, particularly those in Europe and Bosnia-Herzegovina, to refrain from violent protests.
Commenting on protests to be held in front of embassies of Western countries in Sarajevo, Ceric said that the Islamic community neither supported nor had anything to do with the protests and called on organisers to ensure that protests were peaceful and dignified.
Protest rallies will be held in front of the Danish Embassy on Wednesday, and in front of the Norwegian, Swedish and French embassies on Sunday.
Ceric today met the ambassadors of Denmark and Norway, who presented him with letters of apology from their countries' prime ministers.
Ceric said that he and the Islamic community considered the apologies sufficient and called on Muslims to "stay home and dedicate themselves to work".