Second Yemen paper shut for printing Islam cartoons

Sanaa, Yeman - Yemen closed down on Wednesday a second newspaper that reprinted controversial caricatures of Prophet Mohammad, an official at the information ministry said.

The official said the English-language Yemen Observer would be shut until further notice. The newspaper published the inflammatory cartoons last week, he added.

On Monday, the ministry ordered the closure of a small, Arabic language newspaper for printing the cartoons which first appeared in a Danish daily in September.

The prosecution also issued an arrest warrant for its editor-in-chief, who is also its owner, on charges of offending Islam and the Prophet.

Many Muslims consider images of the Prophet to be blasphemous. The cartoons, which showed Prophet Mohammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban, have unleashed a wave of fury, with protesters burning down the Danish embassies and calls by militant groups to attack Danish soldiers in Iraq.