Police: Plot to kill Danish cartoonist
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - February 12, 2008 The arrests were made in pre-dawn raids in Aarhus, western
Denmark, "to prevent a terror-related murder," the police
intelligence agency said. It did not say how many people were
arrested nor did it 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 and his 66-year-old wife Gitte had been living under
police protection because of the murder plans, Jyllands-Posten
reported. It said those arrested included both Danish and foreign
citizens.
