Paraplegic Iranian Paints Portrait of Virgin Mary

Hossein Nouri, a paraplegic painter, paints a portrait of the Virgin Mary in front of the Danish embassy during a protest over the publication of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad in several newspapers in Tehran February 13, 2006. (REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi)

Nouri lost the use of his voice, arms and legs to an injury in the Iraq war:

Metres away about 100 high school girls burned a Danish flag and chanted: "Death to Denmark."

It was one of the more curious juxtapositions in the continuing global confrontation over the blasphemous caricatures first published in a Danish newspaper last September.

Over the past several days, Muslim anger over the cartoons has boiled over with rock- and firebomb-throwing crowds attacking several Western embassies -- primarily those of Denmark and other European countries where the cartoons were recently reprinted.

Last week, nearly a dozen Afghan protesters were killed in a protest outside the main American base at Bagram, north of Kabul.

Nouri's painting depicted the Virgin -- a sacred symbol to Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians as well as Muslims -- looking down at a bouquet of flowers on a canvass that measured 110cm by 75cm.

"This is his answer to those who insulted Islam," said Nouri’'s wife, Zahra.

"It shows how the Iranian people respect others beliefs."

The artist supplements his government pension by selling his paintings.