The Viby-based daily Jyllands-Posten sparked worldwide protests in early 2006 with a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons were published in September 2005 but drew wide international attention when they were later reproduced in other European publications. CPJ documented attacks on the press in 13 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, most stemming from decisions by newspapers to reprint versions of one or more of the cartoons. Government reprisals ranged from issuing censorship orders and jailing editors on criminal charges, to suspending and closing newspapers, according to CPJ research. Danish embassies were attacked and set on fire by angry protesters in Damascus, Beirut, and Tehran; dozens were said to have died in worldwide protests.

On April 27, the state prosecutor charged Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen of the conservative Copenhagen daily Berlingske Tidende with revealing state secrets in 2004 news reports that questioned the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's decision to support the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, according to international press reports. A Copenhagen judge acquitted the journalists on December 4.

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