This is what is irresponsible journalism. So many people died because of the article by this writer and the editor of the paper. ---------------- LAGOS, Nov 24 (AFP) - Nigerian newspaper This Day on Sunday sacked the author of an article on the Miss World beauty contest which has sparked violent unrest that has left more than 200 dead. On November 16 newspaper This Day published an article suggesting that the Prophet Mohammed would not have opposed the staging of the pageant in Nigeria and might have married one of the beauty queens competing for the Miss World crown. The story was regarded as blasphemous and insulting by many and sparked bloody protests in the northern city of Kaduna and the Nigerian capital Abuja. The chairman of the media company that owns the paper said on Sunday the management had sacked style writer Isioma Daniel, who wrote the offending story. The announcement came in the latest of a string of front- page apologies for the piece. "As for the writer of the offensive article, she is pleading forgiveness. She has also offered her resignation for inadvertently causing so much pain to the nation and the paper," chairman Nduka Obaigbena said. "We find her action inexcusable and therefore have accepted her esignation. " On Friday Nigeria's state security service said it had arrested Daniel and the editor of the paper's Saturday edition. They have not yet been charged and there was no news of their fate Sunday. Obaigbena expressed regrets and apologies for the losses of life and property as a result of the publication. "Whatever errors we made were not intentional. We seek forgiveness from all our Muslim brothers and sisters," he added. On Saturday prominent Muslim leader Lateef Adegbite appealed for calm among the protesters and urged them to accept the apologies of the newspaper. "They have shown remorse and repentence and I urge Muslims to forgive and forget in the spirit of Islam," he said. The organisers of the Miss World contest annouced earlier on Saturday they were shifting the event to London for the December 7 grand finale. More than 90 beauty queens left Nigeria early on Sunday for London to vie for the crown currently held by Nigerian Agbani Darego. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~