Two Alberta publications are defending their right to reprint cartoon depictions of Islam's prophet Muhammad. The caricatures originally appeared in a Danish newspaper almost six months ago and have caused widespread rioting in the Middle East.

Calgary's Jewish Free Press printed three of the 12 cartoons on Thursday, while the Western Standard -- a conservative magazine also based in Calgary -- said it will print eight depictions today.

"I never published them to offend their religion," said Richard Bronstein, publisher of the Jewish Free Press.

"I published them to make a point, to inform readers that we deserve to see this material and to make up our own minds about the violent reaction to it."

The Jewish Free Press also republished anti-Semitic cartoons previously printed in other newspapers. Bronstein said he wanted to address a larger issue of respect for all religions, and didn't mean to single out followers of Islam.

"I stand very much behind my point of view, which is that it's not only about offence to Muslims," he said. "There's a lot of material out there which offends other religions. It's not just respect for Islam, it's respect for all religions."

Meanwhile, Ezra Levant, publisher of the Western Standard, said he is reprinting the cartoons so readers can make up their own minds about whether the depictions are offensive.

"We're a news magazine and the news story of the month are these riots around the world in response to some fairly innocuous Danish cartoons," he said. "It's tough to tell that story without showing the central fact -- the cartoons themselves."

Most Canadian publications have chosen not to print the cartoons, instead describing the images.

Some newspaper editors in Europe and Asia were fired after publishing some of the cartoons, and two editors in Jordan were arrested and charged under the country's press and publications law with insulting religion.

Islamic scholars are divided on whether the Koran strictly forbids any depiction of the prophet Muhammad, although the cartoons have been deemed offensive by the worldwide Muslim community.

One of the cartoons depicts the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a burning fuse.

However, Levant said some of the images are harmless.

"Some of these portraits are very bland," he said. "One of them is quite handsome -- the kind of picture you might see in a child's book of the bible."

Syed Soharwardy of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada said publishers of the cartoons should apologize and added that they are abusing freedom of the press.

"They have to apologize in the newspaper, and they have to condemn their action, and they have to come to our centre and apologize to our congregation, too," he said.

With a report by CTV's Shelly Makrugin in Calgary