Police Foil Plot Against 'Muhammad' Cartoonist

[Kanastrous]

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Danish police said Tuesday they have arrested three people suspected of plotting to kill one of the 12 cartoonists behind the Prophet Muhammad drawings that sparked a deadly uproar in the Muslim world two years ago.

Two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin were arrested in pre-dawn raids in western Denmark, the police intelligence agency said.

The Dane was suspected of violating Danish terror laws but likely would be released after questioning as the investigation continues, said Jakob Scharf, the head of the PET intelligence service. The two Tunisians would be expelled from Denmark, he said.

The agency didn't mention which cartoonist was targeted. However, according to Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the drawings on Sept. 30, 2005, the suspects were planning to kill its cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.

"There were very concrete murder plans against Kurt Westergaard," said Carsten Juste, the paper's editor-in-chief.

The cartoons were later reprinted by a range of Western publications, and they sparked deadly protests in parts of the Muslim world.

Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.

Westergaard, 73, and his wife Gitte, 66, had been living under police protection, Jyllands-Posten reported.

"Of course I fear for my life when the police intelligence service say that some people have concrete plans to kill me. But I have turned fear into anger and resentment," Westergaard said in a statement published on Jyllands-Posten's Web site.

PET, the police intelligence service, called the action "preventive," saying it decided to strike "at an early phase to stop the planning and the carrying out of the murder."

In the uproar that followed the publishing of the cartoons, Danes watched in disbelief as angry mobs burned the Danish flag and attacked the country's embassies in Muslim countries including Syria, Iran and Lebanon.

Jyllands-Posten was evacuated several times because of threats and posted security guards at its office outside Aarhus and in Copenhagen.

The paper initially refused to apologize for the cartoons, which it said were published in reaction to a perceived self-censorship among artists dealing with Islamic issues, but later said it regretted that the cartoons had offended Muslims.

The Danish government also expressed regrets to Muslims, but noted that it could not interfere with the freedom of the press.

Kasem Ahmad, a spokesman for the Copenhagen-based Islamic Faith Community, a network of Muslim groups that spearheaded protests against the cartoons in Denmark, said he hoped Tuesday's arrests would not rekindle the uproar.

"We urge Muslims to take it calmly," he told the TV2 News network.

The rage over the caricatures resonated beyond Denmark. In Germany, two men were accused of planting bombs aboard a pair of German commuter trains in 2006 that failed to explode.

One of the men, Youssef Mohammed el-Hajdib, a Lebanese citizen, is on trial in Duesseldorf. The second man, Jihad Hamad, was convicted in December in Lebanon and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

El-Hajdib told the court last week that Hamad planned the attacks as revenge after some German newspapers reprinted the Muhammad caricatures.

Hamad, however, testified at his trial in Lebanon that el-Hajdib was the initiator of the failed plot. He said el-Hajdib brainwashed him and exposed him to extremist videos and propaganda.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23125346/




The worst thing about this, is that two of the plotters are just being turned loose and shown out of the country.

Presumably so they can try again, and possibly succeed.

Never could understand why attempted murder is treated any different from successful murder.

All you're doing, is rewarding incompetence.

[chitoryu12]

The worst thing about this, is that two of the plotters are just being turned loose and shown out of the country.

Presumably so they can try again, and possibly succeed.

Never could understand why attempted murder is treated any different from successful murder.

All you're doing, is rewarding incompetence.

Probably some "Crime in a foreign country" bullshit that I heard a bit about in the past.

[Sidewinder]

And stupid Muslim immigrants continue to do things that seem to justify white people's fear and hatred of Muslims and immigrants. Can't these people just write angry letters to newspapers and magazines or rant on radio talk shows like the white people?

[KlavoHunter]

And stupid Muslim immigrants continue to do things that seem to justify white people's fear and hatred of Muslims and immigrants. Can't these people just write angry letters to newspapers and magazines or rant on radio talk shows like the white people?

No, they must KILL those who dare to insult Allah!

[Hawkwings]

Someone here has an avatar that features a person holding a sign ssaying "Behead those who say Islam is violent"

[Plekhanov]

Someone here has an avatar that features a person holding a sign ssaying "Behead those who say Islam is violent"

That's actually a photoshop of a sign that said 'Behead those who insult Islam'

[Metatwaddle]

Someone here has an avatar that features a person holding a sign ssaying "Behead those who say Islam is violent"

Hi!

Someone here has an avatar that features a person holding a sign ssaying "Behead those who say Islam is violent"

That's actually a photoshop of a sign that said 'Behead those who insult Islam'

But it's funny! So I kept it.

[Darth Wong]

And stupid Muslim immigrants continue to do things that seem to justify white people's fear and hatred of Muslims and immigrants. Can't these people just write angry letters to newspapers and magazines or rant on radio talk shows like the white people?

Yes, they should act like good wholesome white Christian folk, by killing musicians who say bad things about religion, like John Lennon, or drowning their own babies, like Andrea Yates did, or killing abortion doctors, like John Salvi and Paul Hill did, etc.

You're a perfect example of how racists think, asshole. You treat race and religion interchangeably, you use incidents like this to generate sweeping generalizations about races or religions only if they're NOT your own, and then you ask pointedly why these immigrants can't act like good white folk. Go fuck yourself.

[Havok]

And stupid Muslim immigrants continue to do things that seem to justify white people's fear and hatred of Muslims and immigrants. Can't these people just write angry letters to newspapers and magazines or rant on radio talk shows like the white people?

Man, that is about the dumbest thing I thing I have heard in a while. I'm really hoping that this was supposed to be sarcastic in some form, otherwise I have to echo Mike and say Go Fuck Your Self.

[Shroom Man 777]

What that guy should do is write more cartoons, horrifyingly blasphemous cartoons. To be published posthumously.

[hongi]

I heard the Danish newspapers are reprinting the cartoons to support the threatened guy. Nice. Lets see how the Muslim world reacts again.

[Shroom Man 777]

Just make a picture of Muhammad butt-fucking Jesus and get it done with.

[Sidewinder]

And stupid Muslim immigrants continue to do things that seem to justify white people's fear and hatred of Muslims and immigrants. Can't these people just write angry letters to newspapers and magazines or rant on radio talk shows like the white people?

Man, that is about the dumbest thing I thing I have heard in a while. I'm really hoping that this was supposed to be sarcastic in some form, otherwise I have to echo Mike and say Go Fuck Your Self.

I was comparing the suspects' behavior to that of the right-wing nuts who write shit to 'Soldier of Fortune' and rant on Rush Limbaugh's show, so yes, it's sarcastic. I admit it was in poor taste, considering that right-wing nuts were also responsible for the fiasco that is Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Logically speaking, the level of Muslim response to depictions of Muhammad defeats the very purpose of the ban on them. Ostensibly they're intended to prevent people worshiping an image of him, but making it such an important part of their laws and tradition effectively removes the idea of Mohammad as a man and puts him in the same place as Allah, images of whom are also banned. I mean, some medieval Muslim artists depicted Mohammad as a glowing man-shaped figure or even a ball of flame--how the fuck is that kind of mess supposed to remind us that he was only a man who served Allah, as opposed to a demigod?

Yes, they should act like good wholesome white Christian folk, by killing musicians who say bad things about religion, like John Lennon, or drowning their own babies, like Andrea Yates did,

Both Chapman and Yates's crimes probably had more to do with the fact that both of them were severely mentally and emotionally disturbed than with their Christianity. But then again in Yates's case the decision to have a fifth child, even after being told by her psychiatrist that another pregnancy would cause a relapse of depressive psychosis and advised not to do so, was very possibly religiously motivated.

[Darth Wong]

Both Chapman and Yates's crimes probably had more to do with the fact that both of them were severely mentally and emotionally disturbed than with their Christianity. But then again in Yates's case the decision to have a fifth child, even after being told by her psychiatrist that another pregnancy would cause a relapse of depressive psychosis and advised not to do so, was very possibly religiously motivated.

Yes, but without their beliefs, they might have only killed themselves. The direction in which they focused their aggression was clearly motivated by religion. Chapman focused his aggression on Lennon because of Lennon's anti-religious public statements. Yates focused her aggression on her children because she thought that they would become "corrupted" by a sinful world, and she wanted them to enter Heaven in a state of grace.

Neither of them would have done these things if they weren't mentally disturbed. But while we can't say exactly what they would have done without religion, it's pretty doubtful that they would have committed the exact same actions.

[Dartzap]

and in a turn of events that could only have been planned by Baldrick.....

Danish newspapers have reprinted one of several caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad which sparked violent protests across the Muslim world two years ago.

They say they wanted to show their commitment to freedom of speech after an alleged plot to kill one of the cartoonists behind the drawings.

Three suspects were held in Denmark on Tuesday "to prevent a murder linked to terrorism", officials said.

The cartoons were originally published by Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.

Danish embassies were attacked around the world and dozens died in riots that followed.

'Defiant'

Jyllands-Posten and many other major newspapers - including Politiken and Berlingske Tidende - reprinted the caricature in their Wednesday editions.



The cartoon depicts Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse.

The editors say no-one should feel their life is threatened because of a drawing.

"We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper will always defend," Berlingske Tidende said.

The cartoon was also broadcast on national television, and even newspapers that were originally against the publication of the caricatures are now backing the campaign to defend freedom of speech, the BBC's Thomas Buch-Andersen in Copenhagen says.

One Danish tabloid published all 12 drawings, the Associated Press news agency reported.

'Deeply shaken'

On Tuesday, the head of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (Pet), Jakob Sharf, said its operatives had carried out pre-dawn raids in the Aarhus region.

The three suspects - two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin - had been detained "after lengthy surveillance", he added.

The Danish citizen will be released pending further investigation, while the Tunisians will be held until they are expelled from the country.

The Pet did not identify the target of the alleged plot, but the online edition of Jyllands-Posten said its cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard, was the focus.

The newspaper, based in Aarhus, said Mr Westergaard, 73, and his 66-year-old wife, Gitte, had been under police protection for the past three months.

In a statement on Jyllands-Posten's website, Mr Westergaard said: "Of course I fear for my life when the police intelligence service say that some people have concrete plans to kill me.

"But I have turned fear into anger and resentment."

The editor of Jyllands-Posten, Carsten Juste, said he and his staff had been "deeply shaken" by the news.

"We'd become more or less used to death threats and bomb threats since the cartoons, but it's the first time that we've heard about actual murder plans - that's new," he said.

Muslim anger

The BBC's Thomas Buch-Andersen in Copenhagen says the arrests have stunned people in Denmark, where the furore over the cartoons was thought to have passed.

Mr Westergaard was one of 12 artists behind the drawings but he was responsible for what was considered the most controversial of the pictures.

The cartoons were later reprinted by more than 50 newspapers, triggering a wave of protests in parts of the Muslim world.

The demonstrations culminated a year ago with the torching of Danish diplomatic offices in Damascus and Beirut and dozens of deaths in Nigeria, Libya and Pakistan.

[Sidewinder]

So basically, the Danish newspapers are giving Muslim extremists the printed equivalent of the middle finger and a loud "FUCK YOU!"? I would've expected such bravado from the Americans, but Western Europeans?

[SirNitram]

So basically, the Danish newspapers are giving Muslim extremists the printed equivalent of the middle finger and a loud "FUCK YOU!"? I would've expected such bravado from the Americans, but Western Europeans?

And we pole-vault from racism to nationalism easily. 'Only America can have a spine'. Despite, you know, never, ever offend Baby Jesus.

[Sidewinder]

So basically, the Danish newspapers are giving Muslim extremists the printed equivalent of the middle finger and a loud "FUCK YOU!"? I would've expected such bravado from the Americans, but Western Europeans?

And we pole-vault from racism to nationalism easily. 'Only America can have a spine'. Despite, you know, never, ever offend Baby Jesus.

I'm not saying, "Only America can have a spine," I'm saying "I thought only Americans are crazy enough to piss off people like that?"

[Dartzap]

So basically, the Danish newspapers are giving Muslim extremists the printed equivalent of the middle finger and a loud "FUCK YOU!"? I would've expected such bravado from the Americans, but Western Europeans?

And we pole-vault from racism to nationalism easily. 'Only America can have a spine'. Despite, you know, never, ever offend Baby Jesus.

I'm not saying, "Only America can have a spine," I'm saying "I thought only Americans are crazy enough to piss off people like that?"

Europeans have been doing it for far, far longer

[Mr. Coffee]

Just make a picture of Muhammad butt-fucking Jesus and get it done with.

Already been done. Go look up Rule #34 on Encyclopediadramatica and you'll see what I'm talking about. Don't do it if you're at work or school or whatnot though.


Seriously, Sidewinder, just shut up. You're only managing to dig the hole deeper.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Yes, they should act like good wholesome white Christian folk, by killing musicians who say bad things about religion, like John Lennon

Mark David Chapman was religiously motivated and Christian?

[SirNitram]

So basically, the Danish newspapers are giving Muslim extremists the printed equivalent of the middle finger and a loud "FUCK YOU!"? I would've expected such bravado from the Americans, but Western Europeans?

And we pole-vault from racism to nationalism easily. 'Only America can have a spine'. Despite, you know, never, ever offend Baby Jesus.

I'm not saying, "Only America can have a spine," I'm saying "I thought only Americans are crazy enough to piss off people like that?"

And what rock do you live under? Hell, one example of a European pissing people off that much was given: John Lennon.

[Glocksman]

So basically, the Danish newspapers are giving Muslim extremists the printed equivalent of the middle finger and a loud "FUCK YOU!"? I would've expected such bravado from the Americans, but Western Europeans?

With few exceptions, I wouldn't expect it from the US media simply because the first time they were published very few major US media outlets had the stones to actually show the cartoons in question.

If they lacked the guts to show the cartoons when they were part of a breaking news story, I doubt they'd show them today.

As much as we are justly proud of our First Amendment, a lot of US media outlets self-censor to an astounding degree.

[VT-16]

I'm saying "I thought only Americans are crazy enough to piss off people like that?"

The organizers of the Crusades would like to have a word with you. :P