Posted on Sat, May. 15, 2010 10:15 PM
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closeArsonists target Swedish cartoonist’s home
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden | Arsonists on Saturday attacked the home of Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has been threatened because of his depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
The facade of the building was lightly damaged, a police spokeswoman told SR radio. Neither Vilks, nor anyone else was in at the time of the incident at the house in a secluded part of southern Sweden.
Last week, Vilks was attacked during a public lecture at Uppsala University. Vilks said a man leapt up from the front row of the lecture hall and head-butted him on Tuesday.
The artist became the subject of repeated threats in 2007, when he depicted the Muslim prophet as a dog. An Iraq-based group said to be linked to al-Qaida placed a bounty of $100,000 on his head in August 2007, after his caricature was published in a local newspaper.
Earlier this year, seven people — including Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, who grew up in eastern Jackson County — were arrested in Ireland on suspicion of plotting against Vilks.
And Colleen LaRose — a Pennsylvania woman who authorities say went by the online name “Jihad Jane” — was charged in the U.S. with conspiring to commit acts of terrorism in connection with an alleged plot to murder him.
In neighboring Denmark in January, cartoonist Kurt Westergaard also was targeted over his depiction of Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban.
The 74-year-old alerted police when a Somali man, armed with an ax and knife, stormed into his house, shouting that he was seeking “revenge” and “blood.”
Westergaard’s cartoon was one of 12 images published in September 2005 by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. The cartoons outraged many Muslims and sparked violent protests worldwide in early 2006.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Posted on Sat, May. 15, 2010 10:15 PM
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