11/03/2010
Stockholm: Leading Swedish newspapers on Wednesday published a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog by a caricaturist after he was targetted by an alleged assassination plot.
Sweden's paper of reference Dagens Nyheter published the controversial drawing, insisting artist Lars Vilks "is not alone in this conflict" after seven Muslims were arrested in Ireland for allegedly plotting his murder.
"A threat against him is, in the end, a threat against all Swedish people," the paper said in an editorial. Irish police on Tuesday arrested the seven -- four men and three women -- suspected of conspiracy to murder Vilks because of his cartoon, in an operation coordinated with US and European security agencies.
Police said there was a plot to assassinate Vilks, who has a 100,000-dollar (74,000-euro) bounty on his head from an Al-Qaeda-linked group.
US prosecutors also said a Pennsylvania resident Colleen LaRose, who was arrested in October 2009 operating under the online name "JihadJane", had agreed to carry out the murder of a Swedish resident, pledging "only death will stop me."
The Justice Department declined to comment on whether LaRose was connected to the alleged plot to kill Vilks. Dagens Nyheter called on the Swedish state to give Vilks "all the protection he needs."
It said authorities must take action "against an attack aiming at one of our most fundamental rights, freedom of expression." The Expressen tabloid also published the cartoon, insisting it was important "to defend freedom of expression which is more and more threatened."
"An open society must show that it will not give in to threats, that it is ready to fight for freedom of expression," added the daily in an editorial. The regional daily Nerikes Allehanda started the controversy when it first published Vilks' satirical cartoon on August 18, 2007 to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.
That paper did not choose to republish the drawing Wednesday. ¨I don't think it is relevant to publish the picture," Nerikes Allehanda's chief editor Ulf Johansson, who has also faced threats over the initial publication, wrote in the paper.
"If I were to publish it, it would have another symbolical value than when other papers publish it. Dagens Nyheter has published the picture three to four times already and no one has cared," he added.
The Aftonbladet tabloid, which published the drawing in 2007, also refrained from republishing it Wednesday, with chief editor Jan Hellin insisting "the picture has no news value today."
"Publishing the same picture now would ... only increase the level of conflict and provocation in a situation that requires enlightenment, discussion," he wrote. Vilks said Tuesday he was not worried by the arrests in Ireland or the threats on his life. "I'm not shaking with fear, exactly," he told Swedish news agency TT.
He also told the TV4 commercial broadcaster he would consider doing it all over again "if the occasion was right." "One is allowed to insult all religions but not Islam. That is the exception. There is a problem there," he said.
The threat against Vilks has its parallel in Denmark, where several plots to murder cartoonist Kurt Westergaard have been foiled since his drawing of Prophet Mohammed with a turban in the shape of a bomb was first published in September 2005, along with 11 other drawings focused on Islam.
The threat against Vilks "is very sad, I think," Westergaard told Expressen on Wednesday. "But I am impressed by his courage and that he refuses to give in," he added.
Swedish artist: Cartoon murder plot 'low-tech'
A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by drawing the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog says he believes the suspects in an alleged plot to kill him were not professionals.
Lars Vilks told The Associated Press on Wednesday that suspects arrested in Ireland and the U.S. appeared to be "low-tech." Commenting on media reports that the woman held in the U.S., Colleen R. LaRose, had visited the area where he lives, he said: "I'm glad she didn't kill me."
Vilks said he has built "homemade" defense systems against terrorists in his home, including a safe room and a barbed-wire sculpture that can be electrified. He said he didn't regret making the drawing, and that the point was to show that "there's nothing that is so holy you can't offend it."
At least three Swedish newspapers on Wednesday published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog after an alleged plot to murder the artist who created it was uncovered in Ireland.
The controversial drawing by Swedish artist Lars Vilks was printed in Stockholm papers Dagens Nyheter and Expressen and the Malmo daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet.
Irish authorities on Tuesday detained four men and three women suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to kill Vilks. Irish police said Wednesday those arrested were two Algerians, two Libyans, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerian suspects. They were not identified by name.
Sydsvenska Dagbladet said it printed the drawing as part of its news coverage of the alleged plot. Expressen said it printed it for its news value and to take a stance for the freedom of speech.
Dagens Nyheter said in an editorial that "Vilks doesn't stand alone in this conflict. A threat against him is, in the long term, also a threat against all Swedes."
Vilks has faced several death threats since the drawing was first printed by a Swedish newspaper in 2007, a year after separate cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper sparked furious protests in Muslim nations. Al-Qaida put a $100,000 bounty on his head.
Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry. Vilks said Wednesday he wasn't sure whether to take the alleged plot seriously. "Not until all the cards are on the table. I'm sure they have plans, but the question is how far they can go," he told The Associated Press by telephone.
Vilks said it was possible he was also being targeted by an American woman accused by U.S. authorities of recruiting jihadist fighters online. Colleen R. LaRose had discussions her alleged plans with at least one of the suspects apprehended in Ireland, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to discuss details of the investigation.
Sweden's security police, SAPO, declined to comment on whether the cases in Ireland and the U.S. were linked to Vilks.
Associated Press & AFP
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K.Venugopal
#1
11 March 2010 14:24:16
I think depicting Prophet Mohammad as a dog is despicable and cannot be justified under any case of freedom of expression. It is a shame that the entire press in Sweden has supported such a depiction. However, it must also be seen that terrorism in the name of Islam has got into the nerves of many well-meaning folks around the world and their desire thereby to paint Islam in the darkest of hues is understandable. Muslims themselves must be seen to be rising in unison against Islamic terrorism. Otherwise Islam and its icons would continue to attract outpourings of hate, however unreasonable, by more and more people.
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3695346&page=0&ucid=311891#uc2Lst311891
Stockholm: Leading Swedish newspapers on Wednesday published a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog by a caricaturist after he was targetted by an alleged assassination plot.
Sweden's paper of reference Dagens Nyheter published the controversial drawing, insisting artist Lars Vilks "is not alone in this conflict" after seven Muslims were arrested in Ireland for allegedly plotting his murder.
"A threat against him is, in the end, a threat against all Swedish people," the paper said in an editorial. Irish police on Tuesday arrested the seven -- four men and three women -- suspected of conspiracy to murder Vilks because of his cartoon, in an operation coordinated with US and European security agencies.
Police said there was a plot to assassinate Vilks, who has a 100,000-dollar (74,000-euro) bounty on his head from an Al-Qaeda-linked group.
US prosecutors also said a Pennsylvania resident Colleen LaRose, who was arrested in October 2009 operating under the online name "JihadJane", had agreed to carry out the murder of a Swedish resident, pledging "only death will stop me."
The Justice Department declined to comment on whether LaRose was connected to the alleged plot to kill Vilks. Dagens Nyheter called on the Swedish state to give Vilks "all the protection he needs."
It said authorities must take action "against an attack aiming at one of our most fundamental rights, freedom of expression." The Expressen tabloid also published the cartoon, insisting it was important "to defend freedom of expression which is more and more threatened."
"An open society must show that it will not give in to threats, that it is ready to fight for freedom of expression," added the daily in an editorial. The regional daily Nerikes Allehanda started the controversy when it first published Vilks' satirical cartoon on August 18, 2007 to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.
That paper did not choose to republish the drawing Wednesday. ¨I don't think it is relevant to publish the picture," Nerikes Allehanda's chief editor Ulf Johansson, who has also faced threats over the initial publication, wrote in the paper.
"If I were to publish it, it would have another symbolical value than when other papers publish it. Dagens Nyheter has published the picture three to four times already and no one has cared," he added.
The Aftonbladet tabloid, which published the drawing in 2007, also refrained from republishing it Wednesday, with chief editor Jan Hellin insisting "the picture has no news value today."
"Publishing the same picture now would ... only increase the level of conflict and provocation in a situation that requires enlightenment, discussion," he wrote. Vilks said Tuesday he was not worried by the arrests in Ireland or the threats on his life. "I'm not shaking with fear, exactly," he told Swedish news agency TT.
He also told the TV4 commercial broadcaster he would consider doing it all over again "if the occasion was right." "One is allowed to insult all religions but not Islam. That is the exception. There is a problem there," he said.
The threat against Vilks has its parallel in Denmark, where several plots to murder cartoonist Kurt Westergaard have been foiled since his drawing of Prophet Mohammed with a turban in the shape of a bomb was first published in September 2005, along with 11 other drawings focused on Islam.
The threat against Vilks "is very sad, I think," Westergaard told Expressen on Wednesday. "But I am impressed by his courage and that he refuses to give in," he added.
Swedish artist: Cartoon murder plot 'low-tech'
A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by drawing the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog says he believes the suspects in an alleged plot to kill him were not professionals.
Lars Vilks told The Associated Press on Wednesday that suspects arrested in Ireland and the U.S. appeared to be "low-tech." Commenting on media reports that the woman held in the U.S., Colleen R. LaRose, had visited the area where he lives, he said: "I'm glad she didn't kill me."
Vilks said he has built "homemade" defense systems against terrorists in his home, including a safe room and a barbed-wire sculpture that can be electrified. He said he didn't regret making the drawing, and that the point was to show that "there's nothing that is so holy you can't offend it."
At least three Swedish newspapers on Wednesday published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog after an alleged plot to murder the artist who created it was uncovered in Ireland.
The controversial drawing by Swedish artist Lars Vilks was printed in Stockholm papers Dagens Nyheter and Expressen and the Malmo daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet.
Irish authorities on Tuesday detained four men and three women suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to kill Vilks. Irish police said Wednesday those arrested were two Algerians, two Libyans, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerian suspects. They were not identified by name.
Sydsvenska Dagbladet said it printed the drawing as part of its news coverage of the alleged plot. Expressen said it printed it for its news value and to take a stance for the freedom of speech.
Dagens Nyheter said in an editorial that "Vilks doesn't stand alone in this conflict. A threat against him is, in the long term, also a threat against all Swedes."
Vilks has faced several death threats since the drawing was first printed by a Swedish newspaper in 2007, a year after separate cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper sparked furious protests in Muslim nations. Al-Qaida put a $100,000 bounty on his head.
Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry. Vilks said Wednesday he wasn't sure whether to take the alleged plot seriously. "Not until all the cards are on the table. I'm sure they have plans, but the question is how far they can go," he told The Associated Press by telephone.
Vilks said it was possible he was also being targeted by an American woman accused by U.S. authorities of recruiting jihadist fighters online. Colleen R. LaRose had discussions her alleged plans with at least one of the suspects apprehended in Ireland, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to discuss details of the investigation.
Sweden's security police, SAPO, declined to comment on whether the cases in Ireland and the U.S. were linked to Vilks.
Associated Press & AFP
1-10 of 38
PreviousNext
K.Venugopal
#1
11 March 2010 14:24:16
I think depicting Prophet Mohammad as a dog is despicable and cannot be justified under any case of freedom of expression. It is a shame that the entire press in Sweden has supported such a depiction. However, it must also be seen that terrorism in the name of Islam has got into the nerves of many well-meaning folks around the world and their desire thereby to paint Islam in the darkest of hues is understandable. Muslims themselves must be seen to be rising in unison against Islamic terrorism. Otherwise Islam and its icons would continue to attract outpourings of hate, however unreasonable, by more and more people.
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3695346&page=0&ucid=311891#uc2Lst311891
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