A USA cartoonist whose work inspired an internet campaign inviting people to draw images of the Prophet Mohamed has apologised for her role in the row. Writing on her blog, Molly Norris said her satirical cartoon was "hijacked" and that the campaign was "offensive to Muslims". Other people set up a page on the social networking site Facebook backing an Everybody Draw Mohamed Day. It sparked outrage in Pakistan, where a court ordered Facebook to be blocked. On Thursday the video-sharing website YouTube was also blocked in Pakistan. Reports say more protests against the Facebook campaign are planned for Friday. Molly Norris drew a cartoon in April to protest against the decision by a US television channel to cancel an episode of the popular show South Park because of a contentious depiction of the Prophet Mohamed. In her cartoon, Ms Norris satirically proposed May 20 as an Everybody Draw Mohamed Day. The idea inspired a separate Everybody Draw Mohamed Day group on Facebook which rapidly gained in popularity. The page contains drawings and cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed and characters from other religions, including Hinduism and Christianity. Depictions of the Prophet are forbidden in Islam. Ms Norris says she that she had nothing to do with the page even though her name was posted on it. Some media reports implied that she had set up the Facebook campaign. "I never started a Facebook page; I never set up any place for people to send drawings to and I never received any drawings," she said on her blog. She apologised for her role in the controversy and said that the content of the page was "offensive to Muslims who did nothing to endanger our right to expression in the first place". The page is no longer available to view.
