http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/05/08/herald-cartoon.html?ref=rss

Newspaper cartoon a hate crime, Islamic group claims

Last Updated: Thursday, May 8, 2008 | 3:42 PM ET
CBC News

Police in Halifax are investigating a complaint about a political cartoon
that some members of a local Islamic group claim is a hate crime.

The cartoon, published April 18 in the Chronicle Herald newspaper, depicts
a woman in a burka holding a sign that reads, "I want millions," and she
says, "I can put it towards my husband's next training camp."

The cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon is a reference to Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, a
woman from Nova Scotia whose husband was arrested in 2006 in an
anti-terrorism raid. Qayyum Abdul Jamal was released from jail after
charges against him were stayed on April 15.

Zia Khan, director of the Centre for Islamic Development in Halifax, said
the cartoon goes beyond what can be considered free speech.

"You would not put a native American Indian with feathers and say I need
money in order to cull white people's heads. You wouldn't do that. This
would be libellous," he said.

Khan's group called police on April 21. He said the group also filed a
complaint with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, a hate crime is committed to intimidate,
harm or terrify an entire group of people to which the victim belongs. The
victims are targeted for who they are, not because of anything they have
done.

Dan Leger, the Herald's director of news content, said the cartoon does not
take aim at all Muslims.

"The whole purpose of that cartoon was to comment on the outrageous demands
of this individual for compensation long before any hearing into her case
had ever been held," he said.

In an interview with the Herald before the cartoon ran, Jamal said she
wanted to sue the federal government for what her family has gone through
and told the reporter, "I want millions," Leger noted.

"[MacKinnon] depicted her exactly the way she looks and used her own words,
and that's the genius of cartooning that you're able to do that," he said.

Leger said he first heard of the Islamic group's concerns when the
newspaper was contacted by police.