Afghan cleric offers rewards to kill makers of anti-Islam material

KABUL (AFP) - An Afghan cleric has offered rewards totalling S$490,000 for anyone killing the producer of a US-made anti-Islam film and a French cartoonist who drew caricatures of the Muslim prophet Mohammed.

"I have offered US$300,000 to anyone who kills the anti-Islam film producer and US$100,000 for killing the French cartoonist," Mir Faroq Husaini, a prominent cleric in the western province of Herat, told AFP on Sunday.

Husaini said he had first announced the reward during a sermon on Friday in a large mosque in the city. "I will sell all my properties, including my lands in Herat, to collect the money," he said.

Afghanistan is a devoutly Muslim nation and perceived insults to religion are taken seriously, often with violent consequences.