COPENHAGEN, February 10, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The cultural editor of Denmark's Jyllands-Posten has been sent on "indefinite leave", immediately after giving remarks he would consider publishing Holocaust cartoons in the mass-circulation daily.

"The Editors have told (cultural editor) Flemming Rose to take a vacation because no one can understand the kind of pressure he has been under," Jyllands-Posten editor Carsten Juste told Berlingske Tidende newspaper, Reuters reported Friday, February 10.

The move comes only two days after Flemming said he was considering to publish cartoons on the Holocaust in his daily.

An Iranian newspaper has said it will run a contest for cartoons on the Holocaust.

"We would consider publishing them," Rose said Wednesday.

"But we will not make a decision before we have seen the cartoons, and it is in no way seen as remorse or a way to establish a false balance between our cartoons and the Iranian cartoons," he told Agence France Presse (AFP).

Three years ago, Jyllands-Posten had rejected to publish cartoon of Jesus Christ because of being "offensive" to Christians.

However, the daily published last September 12 drawings mocking Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).

The drawings included one wearing a bomb-shaped turban and another showing him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

The drawings, considered blasphemous under Islam, triggered an outcry across the Muslim world and calls for boycotting Danish products.

Rose's remarks on publishing the Holocaust cartoons has triggered an immediate public apology from the Danish daily.

"Flemming Rose has expressed regret for his error of judgment that must be ascribed to the fact that, during the past four months, he has experienced inhumanly hard pressure and been besieged by Danish as well as international media almost around the clock," Juste said on his newspaper's Web site.

"Under no circumstances will we allow ourselves to be latched onto the tasteless media stunt of an Iranian newspaper," he added.

As expected, Danish Muslims had blasted the daily's double-standards in dealings with the cartoons.

"The decision smacks of double-standards," said Ahmed Akkari, spokesman for the Danish-based European Committee for Prophet Honoring.

A cohort of Muslim dignitaries and organizations are calling for the enactment of an international law banning the publication of any insults to religious symbols and values.