Sarajevo • Bosnian Islamic leaders voiced anger yesterday after a local television station aired an episode of the popular US cartoon South Park depicting Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him).

“The broadcast (of the cartoon) is unacceptable and we condemn it and consider it to be a kind of provocation,” Enes Ljevakovic, head of a Bosnian Islamic council, said.

“According to Islamic tradition, the presentation of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) or any other prophet is unacceptable ... even if their presentation is not sarcastic but in positive light,” Ljevakovic said.

“The cartoon was even censored in the United States ... and that is what the local Bosnian television station should have done as well,” he added.

OBN defended its decision to air the show, saying the cartoon presented prophets in a positive light that could be considered as a lesson in morality.

Some 40 percent of Bosnia’s 3.8 million inhabitants are Muslims. Orthodox Christian Serbs represent about 31 percent, while Roman Catholic Croats account for around 10 per cent.