German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to pay tribute to the Danish cartoonist who caused uproar in the Muslim world by drawing insulting cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Merkel is scheduled to address a ceremony about freedom of press in Potsdam, near Berlin on Wednesday where she will give an award to Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, organizers of the event said in a statement on Tuesday.
"We still know what no freedom means and we should never forget how valuable liberty is. Press freedom is one of the features of a free democracy," Merkel was quoted as by AFP.
The 75-year old cartoonist, who offended Muslims across the world, will be awarded the M100 Media Prize 2010.
The blasphemous cartoons were first printed on September 30, 2005 in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and were reprinted repeatedly in different newspapers in over 50, mostly Western, countries.
The move by Western media sparked anger among Muslims across the globe, provoking mass protests by the community who demanded Westergaard be punished.
Westergaard announced in June that he would retire from the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in a bid to ease tensions over his insulting cartoons.
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