Kurt Westergaard, the Danish artist in the Islamic Prophet cartoon dispute, voiced concerns about whether he could receive a "fair trial" in Jordan, local daily The Jordan Times reported on Wednesday.
"In principle, I and everybody involved would like to defend ourselves, but I have concerns that the trial will not be fair because of the hate remarks I read by the campaign organizers," Westergaard said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
He was referring to a local media-led campaign that filed a lawsuit against him and other Danish editors and newspapers that published the controversial cartoons.
The cartoonist was subpoenaed by the Amman prosecutor general in early June along with several Danish journalists and editors.
The 73-year-old artist said he has contacted the Jordanian embassy in Germany on situations in Jordan's prisons, including meal, living and reading condition among others.
Westergaard reaffirmed that he has no problem with Islam but has a problem with terrorists whether they were Muslims or not.
The controversy began after 12 cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, and deepened when the cartoons were reprinted in more countries.
This led to anger and protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence.
Source:Xinhua
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