Malaysian paper apologizes for picture of Jesus holding cigarette

A newspaper catering to Malaysia's ethnic Indians published a front-page apology Thursday after causing an outrage by printing an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette.

S.M. Periasamy, general manager of the Tamil-language Makkal Osai, said the daily published the controversial photo by mistake. The graphic artist have already been suspended.

He said the artist downloaded a picture of Jesus from the Internet for use along with a quote from the Bible on the paper's front page on Tuesday. But the artist overlooked the fact that the picture had been altered to insert a cigarette in one hand and another object, a can or a book in the other.

Kuala Lumpur archbishop, Murphy Pakiam, who earlier criticized the picture as a "desecration," accepted the newspaper's apology.

However, the Malaysian Indian Congress, a party in Malaysia's ruling coalition, filed a police report and called on the government to close the paper, which has generally been critical of the MIC.