COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Muslim ambassadors to Denmark have protested against 12 newspaper caricatures of the Chief of Prophets Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his pure progeny) to Denmark's prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, his office said.

The 12 drawings by two cartoonists, which appeared in Denmark's largest circulation daily Jyllands-Posten on September 30, have drawn criticism from across the Muslim community in Denmark, with religious leaders insisting that they are an insult to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his pure progeny) and calling for an official apology.

According to the prime minister's office diplomats from Arab countries and Pakistan, Iran, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Indonesia said in a letter to Rasmussen, they were offended by the caricatures and demanded an official apology from the newspaper.

Meanwhile, the editors of Jyllands-Posten stood by their cartoons and rejected the diplomats' demand for an apology in the name of freedom of expression.

"We live in a democracy where satire and caricature are generally accepted, and religion should not set limits on that," chief editor Carsten Juste said.

Islam is the second religion in Denmark after the Evangelical-Lutheran state church.