Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday condemned as "loathsome" some European newspapers' publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, but called on Muslims to refrain from extremist moves.

"Loathsome move of some Western publications against the exalted personality of Prophet of Islam showed their wrath against grandeur of Muslims," Rafsanjani was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying at a prayer sermon on Friday.

Rafsanjani said that no Muslim could help getting angry seeing the cartoons, stressing "there are 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe and this ugly move has enraged them all."

"If your freedom of expression is so wide-scaled that it permits you to insult the most sanctified personality in mankind's history, freedom of every single Muslim, too, permits them to enter the scene against you throughout the world," Rafsanjani said.

However, the former president called on Muslims to refrain from any extremist moves or confrontations.

"The Western press intend to introduce the Islam of kindness and lenience as a harsh religion and that is the worst and ugliest type of distorting the historic facts, but of course the Muslims would not be deceived in confrontation with such plots," Rafsanjani urged.

Meanwhile, several Iranian cities, including the capital Tehran, witnessed rallies staged by thousands of angry demonstrators protesting against the cartoons, IRNA said.

Danish daily Jyllands-Poste published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad last September, including one depicting the Islamic religion's founder wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

Over the past few days, the cartoons, which are considered blasphemous by most Muslims, were reprinted in some other European papers, which provoked an outrage in the Muslim world and a boycott of Danish products in most Arab countries.

Jyllands-Poste's editor issued an apology on late Monday for offending Muslims, after long refusing to apologize for publishing the caricatures and insisting on the right to freedom of expression.

Source: Xinhua