Kuwait City, Kuwait - Kuwait's parliament voted Tuesday to sever diplomatic ties with Denmark over the controversial cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad and to spend about $50 million to defend the prophet's image in the West.
Both votes were nonbinding, meaning the Cabinet does not have to abide by them. Foreign Minister Sheik Mohammed Al Sabah said any cutting of relations should be part of a group step by other Muslim nations.
Sheik Mohammed said Kuwait froze plans to appoint an ambassador to Denmark earlier this year to protest the cartoons, published by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.
The drawings sparked a wave of demonstrations across the Islamic world when they were reprinted in European newspapers in January and February, with many countries — including Kuwait — removing Danish products from the shelves for months.
Lawmakers also accused the West of waging a crusade against Islam, but liberal legislator Ali al-Rashed said Muslims have to be positive and remember that it was some individuals, not governments, who insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
"We here in Kuwait curse Christians in many of our mosques, should those (Christian) countries boycott Kuwait?" he said.
Islamic law forbids any depiction of Prophet Muhammad, even positive ones, to prevent idolatry.