A group of 27 Muslim organizations has filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper that first published the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that led to protests around the world.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, two weeks after Denmark's top prosecutor declined to press criminal charges, saying the drawings that sparked a firestorm in the Muslim world did not violate laws against racism or blasphemy.

Michael Christiani Havemann, a lawyer representing the Muslim groups, said the lawsuit sought the equivalent of about $18,800 Cdn in damages from Carsten Juste, editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten newspaper, and culture editor Flemming Rose, who supervised the cartoon project.

The cartoons sparked a wave of protests around the world. (CP file photo)
The cartoons sparked a wave of protests around the world. (CP file photo)

"We're seeking judgment for both the text and the drawings, which were gratuitously defamatory and injurious," Havemann told the Associated Press.

The Danish newspaper apologized for offending Muslims after violent protests erupted around the world, but stood by its decision to print the drawings, citing freedom of speech.

The newspaper published the 12 cartoons on Sept. 30, with an accompanying text saying it was challenging self-censorship among artists afraid to offend Islam. The drawings were later reprinted in other Western media, mostly in Europe, in the name of free speech and news value.

A handful of Canadian newspapers also published the cartoons, including a student newspaper in Prince Edward Island and the Western Standard magazine in Alberta.

The Danish lawsuit claims the cartoons depict Muhammad "as belligerent, oppressing women, criminal, crazy and unintelligent, and a connection is made between the Prophet and war and terror."

It also claimed the drawings were published "solely to provoke and mock not only the Prophet Muhammad but also the Muslim population."

Many Muslims object to showing any image of the prophet, since depicting him risks insulting him or encouraging idolatry.

One of the drawings showed Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.