Westerners have generally failed to respect the religious sentiments of other communities. The recent example is the antics of some drunk Norwegian tourists in Egypt. On the other hand, Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, a hardcore Islamists himself, has revealed that twelve terrorists are on way to Denmark to assassinate the caricaturists who drew the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in newspaper Jyllands-Posten. This claim stems from the journalist, newspaper Politiken reports on its web site, citing discussion of the case in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. Perhaps, bigots such as Hamid Mir are unaware of the damage, caused to Islam and Muslims by raging controversy on these caricatures in a non-descript newspaper. The web is now full of all sorts of offending cartoons on the Prophet. Can people like Hamid Mir stop such development?



The two Norwegians and three Swedes ended up being arrested by the Egyptian police, who protected them from an angry mob. The troubled started after the five Scandinavian tourists got drunk, dressed themselves up like Muslim pilgrims and started dancing around the statue of a mermaid located in a town square, and pretending she symbolized Allah.



The Scandinavians apparently were trying to parody Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca. When they started stripping off their clothes, the local Egyptians had had enough and went on the attack.A local policeman told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that his colleagues had to step in to protect the tourists from angry local residents. “If they hadn’t been arrested, they probably would have been lynched,” an Islamic expert said.



The tourists were initially held on charges of indecent conduct, since some of the men exposed themselves. The charges were later raised to blasphemy, which can be punished severely. The men, all aged 35-40, were later released and were free to leave Egypt.



Hurghada is a popular tourist destination for Scandinavians, and the local population generally tolerates the partying and scanty clothing so foreign to their own culture.