Ireland Nabs 7 in Cartoonist Murder Plot

(AP)  Irish police arrested seven people Tuesday over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish artist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

Police said four men and three women were detained in morning raids in the counties of Cork and Waterford on Ireland's south coast. Under Irish anti-terrorist law they could be interrogated for up to a week before being charged or released.

Two police officers close to the investigation said those arrested were foreign-born Irish residents, mostly from Yemen and Morocco. The officers said the suspects had been under surveillance since November and were identified based on intelligence intercepts of e-mails and telephone calls monitored with help from anti-terrorist officials in the United States, Interpol and Sweden.

Both officers spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about details of the investigation.

The alleged target of the murder conspiracy, Swedish artist Lars Vilks, told The Associated Press he believed that the Irish arrests are linked to two telephone death threats he received in January over one of his drawings published in a Swedish newspaper in August 2007.

Vilks said in a telephone interview he received those threats shortly after Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard - who also faced extremist Muslim death threats for his 2005 depictions of Muhammad - was threatened when a Somali man wielding an ax broke into his home in Denmark on Jan. 1. Westergaard locked himself in a room and called police, who shot and wounded the attacker.

Vilks said his telephone threats came from "a Swedish-speaking Somali. He reminded me about what had happened to Westergaard and threatened with a follow-up and that 'now it's your turn'."

Irish police said the suspects were aged from their mid-20s to their late 40s. They said three men and two women were arrested in Waterford, two others in the Cork City suburb of Ballincollig. Searches on at least nine properties were conducted.

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

Westergaard became a target after his 2005 cartoons depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

Vilks became a target because of a series of drawings that he had originally made for an art exhibition. The gallery refused to show them, citing security concerns. A Swedish newspaper printed the dog-bodied drawing alongside an editorial defending the freedom of expression.

In response, terror organization Al Qaeda in Iraq announced a $100,000 bounty for Vilks' assassination. He was placed under police protection and moved to a secret location in Sweden.

[stychokiller]

The solution to this insanity is obvious:

Create a daily (maybe even a dozen!) comic strip(s) about the ongoing travails that the Prophet has with his numerous, intellectually challenged followers. After a few months of rioting on a daily basis, even the most die-hard fanatic will get tired of making a fool of themselves and get to work actually trying to improve their lot in life by working for a living instead!

[I_am_me1953]

Ya know, that may be a pretty good way to capture a few home terrorists.

Just draw a few cartoons of mudhamad and wait for the calls to begin. Catch 6 or 8 at one time in just a few weeks.

[ToolMangler1]

Catch 6000 to 8000 is more likely.

[mjlewis6]

And if the BUSH ADMINISTRATION had all the answers and the power to impose its will....it did not cross the Pakistani border to prosecute the war to a conclusion for the attacks of 9/11. Something about Iraq just had his attention....Talk about UNPATRIOTIC and TREASONABLE ACTS from the top on down. A bunch of them ought to be frogwalked to the jail.

Muhammad is getting a bad rap and being interpreted by extremists, Bush and Cheney are still on the loose despite their own war crimes, and Osama is still out there with Al Qaeda as the NUMBER ONE bad man...AND idiots are after an artist for exposing the misuse of Muhammad by bombers. Lock them up and ask the Local Islamic Council of Imams to refute them with teachings from the Quran. It is the misquided that fuels this HOLY WAR, make no mistake, brought by the
true INFIDELS who are killing innocents in violation of the Quran while spouting their jihad, a personal struggle for heavenly reward.
Killing innocents is no way to approach the Almighty, and being judge and executioner is a likewise bad way to try to jimmy the lock on Heaven's Gate.

[mjlewis6]

And while we are at it, how about a little cooperation from the Obama Administration to deliver to the Italian Government the INDICTED and CONVICTED IN ABSENTIA CIA agents who abducted an Italian citizen and subjected him to rendition and torture in other countries...for four months and then let him go in Montenegro...since he was the WRONG GUY, just had a similar name. Happened durin the Bush administration and there is still no accountability.

[mjlewis6]

And while we are at it, how about a little cooperation from the Obama Administration to deliver to the Italian Government the INDICTED and CONVICTED IN ABSENTIA CIA agents who abducted an Italian citizen and subjected him to rendition and torture in other countries...for four months and then let him go in Montenegro...since he was the WRONG GUY, just had a similar name. Happened durin the Bush administration and there is still no accountability.