Dhaka, Feb 8 (AFP) The Bangladeshi government has confiscated all copies of the latest issue of the US-based weekly Newsweek that includes an image of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, officials said today.
"The government has banned publication, sale, distribution and preservation" of all copies of Newsweek's February 11 Asian edition published in Singapore, a government statement said.
The action was taken for fear that the image's publication "may hurt the religious feelings of Muslims," it said.
Newsweek's latest international edition includes a photograph of an undated Turkish manuscript depicting the Prophet Mohammed with the angel Gabriel, as part of an article exploring the similarities and differences between the Islamic and Christian scriptures.
Islam strictly bans the printing of images of the religion's founder.
Time, another US newsweekly, last April apologised after it too printed an image of Mohammed, which triggered angry protests by Muslim students in Srinagar.