GENEVA, Feb. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Talks to establish a new United Nations human rights body have been thrown into disarray by Muslim calls for new clauses against blasphemy, Swiss Radiao International (SRI) reported Wednesday.

    Fifty-seven Islamic nations have demanded the insertion of three amendments to a draft resolution following the controversy over cartoons of Mohammad published in a Danish newspaper, the report said.

    Jan Eliasson, president of the UN General Assembly, has been conducting "intensive" bilateral talks with key UN members in an effort to resolve severe splits on the new rights body, according to his spokeswoman, Marie Heuze.

    Heuze said the aim had originally been to get the final resolution on the new body - which is set to replace the discredited Geneva-based UN Human Rights Commission - adopted on Wednesday so it could begin to function this summer.

    Talks were derailed when leading members of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) added new conditions to the already heated debate over the rights body.

    In a document handed to the United Nations on Monday, the OIC said "the defamation of religions or prophets is not in accordance with free speech" and that states, organizations and media "had a responsibility to promote tolerance and respect for religious and cultural values".

    The OIC told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that language against blasphemy should be written into the tenets for a human rights council.

    So far, western nations as well as UN officials are resisting such a move.

    World leaders agreed at a UN summit in September to create a new body to replace the 53-member Commission on Human Rights, known for giving seats to countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe and blocking criticism of rights abusers.

    Some U.S. congress men want to make a new rights body a condition for paying UN dues.

    A draft resolution calls for rights criteria for candidates, geographic representation and 45 members.

    Still undecided is whether a candidate would be elected by a two-thirds or a simple majority.

    The United States and the Europeans wanted a two-thirds vote, which would make it easier for them to stop a nation from getting a seat.

    Eliasson is hoping for a consensus resolution rather than calling a vote, although many envoys say that will be difficult.

    The Swiss have been lobbying hard for the new body to be based in Geneva, and last week the Swiss Foreign Ministry said opposition to Geneva's bid to host the body had faded. Enditem