Gulf | Bahrain
Teacher fired for Danish cartoons on website
An American professor has been sacked for publishing Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on his website, causing outrage among university students.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 00:53 March 6, 2008
Manama: An American professor has been sacked for publishing Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on his website, causing outrage among university students.
"The professor highlighted the cartoons on his personal website which students routinely surfed to download notes about his course and related articles," students at the university told Gulf News.
"Many incensed stud-ents, mainly from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, protested vehemently and argued with the professor, and eventually reported him to the president of the university for insulting Islam," one of the students said.
The university has not commented.
Suspension
However, student sources said the professor was temporarily suspended, and upon resuming teaching, he faced a barrage of criticism from the students who asked the education ministry and the higher education council to apply a zero-tolerance policy towards anyone who offended Muslims by reprinting or republishing the "insulting" cartoons.
"The university eventually backtracked on its decision to reinstate the professor and sacked him despite a formal apology and the removal of the cartoons from his website," the sources said.
The university, which offers courses in business, accounting, finance and marketing, attributed its decision to "concerns about the safety of the professor, a desire to preserve its reputation and a move to ensure the stability of classes following an increase in calls to sack him."
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