STOCKHOLM, Feb. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen met on Friday with diplomats from Muslim countries to defuse the row over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

    While Rasmussen conveyed Denmark's respect for Islam, he said his country will not apologize, according to reports from Copenhagen.

    "Neither the Danish government nor the Danish nation as such can be held responsible for drawings published in a Danish newspaper," Rasmussen said after meeting with Muslim envoys.

    "A Danish government can never apologise on behalf of a free and independent newspaper," he said. "This is basically a dispute between some Muslims and a newspaper."

    The decision to call the ambassadors to a joint meeting was seen by Danish opposition leaders as a positive, albeit delayed, step on the government's part.

    The drawings, first published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten last September, have sparked international fury and a debate on the clash between freedom of speech and respect for religion.

    Newspapers in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary have reprinted the caricatures this week, saying press freedom is more important than the protests and boycotts they have provoked. Enditem