Three arrested for plot to kill one of the Danish Mohamed cartoonists
Let's hear it for freedom of
expression!
The three largest newspapers in Denmark are reprinting this cartoon in support of freedom of expression.
Three men were arrested in Denmark accused of plotting to murder a cartoonist, two years after a dozen cartoons lampooning Islamic fundamentalism sparked violent demonstrations around the world.
The target was said to be Kurt Westergaard, 73, a staff cartoonist on Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons. Westergaard’s drawings depicted the Prophet Mohamed with a bomb-shaped turban and a burning fuse.
Police said they arrested the men while the plot to kill Westergaard was still in the planning stage. The chief of the Security and Intelligence Service, Jakob Scharf, said the arrests came after a long period of surveillance. They were intended, he said “to prevent a terror-related assassination of one of the cartoonists behind the cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed”.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Prime Minister, said: “Unfortunately… there are in Denmark groups of extremists that do not acknowledge and respect the principles on which Danish democracy is built. In Denmark, we have freedom not only to think and talk, but also to draw.”
Because of death threats, Westergaard and his wife Gitte have been provided with heavy police protection for the past three months and are moved frequently to secret locations.
Posted: Wed - February 13, 2008 at 07:35 AM