Here we go again.......
Cartoonist shrugs at Islamic death threat: ‘It’s good to know how much one is worth’
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Swedish companies lowered their profile in the Middle East yesterday amid fears that a newspaper cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog could spark bloody reprisals.
Ericsson, the telecoms giant, removed the Swedish flag from offices in several countries including Iraq after a statement purporting to be from al-Qaeda put a $100,000 (£50,000) bounty on the head of the cartoonist, Lars Vilks.
The statement, in the name of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, offered a 50 per cent bonus if Mr Vilks was “slaughtered like a lamb” by having his throat cut. It also placed $50,000 on the life of Ulf Johansson, editor-in-chief of Nerikes Allehanda, the local newspaper that printed the cartoon last month.
Muslim leaders in Sweden condemned the threats and Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister, has sought to calm tensions over the cartoon at a meeting with ambassadors from 22 Islamic countries. The row recalls the controversy over 12 cartoons lampooning Islam published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 that provoked violent demonstrations, including attacks on Danish embassies.
Islam forbids as idolatry any depiction of Muhammad, and Sweden, which has about 350,000 Muslims among a population of 9.1 million, has been consumed by a fierce debate over freedom of expression after the publication in the newspaper based in the western town of Örebro.
Mr Vilks, who lives in an isolated area of Sweden, has been given police protection. He said: “I suppose you could say I was an easy target. But I am not paranoid. I think I possess a healthy rationality; I know that there are some risks involved but one should not exaggerate them either.”
But he added: “We must not give in. I’m starting to grow old. I could die at any time — it’s not a catastrophe.”
The internet threat stated: “We know how to force you to apologise. If you do not, expect us to strike the businesses of firms like Ericsson, Scania, Volvo, Ikea and Electrolux.”
Åse Lindskog, a spokeswoman for Ericsson, said that staff had been told to keep a low profile in Muslim countries and to take extra care in deciding where to go or park their cars.
Helena Benouda, head of the Muslim Council of Sweden, denounced the threats. “We do not think like this. It is criminal to call to kill somebody. It is really unnecessary and it is ugly, especially in the month of Ramadan.”
Egypt, Iran and Pakistan have lodged formal protests with the Swedish Government and religious leaders in Afghanistan and Jordan have condemned the cartoon.
Mr Reinfeldt yesterday used a TV interview to appeal for calm. “We shall deny all who call for the use of violence and keep at bay the extremists’ attempts to worsen the issue,” he said.
He said that the Government had been watching developments closely, including monitoring media reports in the Muslim world and talking to Muslim representatives in Sweden and abroad. The Swedish Foreign Ministry has also advised its nationals to exercise caution in the Middle East.
Mr Vilks arrived back in Sweden from Germany yesterday and made light of the assassination call. “I suppose that this makes my art project a bit more serious. It is also good to know how much one is worth,” he said. Mr Johansson said that he had already received a number of threats via e-mail and telephone. He added: “I have received various types of threats but none have been so explicit. This is a direct death sentence.”
The Swedish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Jan Thesleff, met Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, head of the Organisation for the Islamic Conference (OIC), last week in Jeddah and offered his “deepest apologies for the controversy created by the publishing of the hurtful depiction”, according to a statement from the 57-nation group.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry, however, immediately denied that the Ambassador had made any apology, saying that he had only expressed regret. A spokeswoman said: “The Ambassador repeated his regret at the controversy created by the publication, but not for the publication itself.”
A leading Swedish daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, yesterday republished the cartoon in an act of solidarity with the local paper that first printed it.
Thorbjörn Larsson, the editor, said in an opinion piece: “We live in a country where freedom of expression is not dictated by fundamentalists, nor by governments. To me, publishing it was the obvious thing to do.”
The daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet urged Swedes to defend their right to free speech in the face of religious fanaticism. It said: “Freedom of expression is not a privilege for the media companies and journalists but a guarantee that citizens can have different impressions, numerous sources of information and inspiration, as well as the possibility of drawing their own conclusions.”
The decision by Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, to publish 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in September 2005 caused international Muslim anger on a level not seen since the release of Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses. The publication was prompted by writer Kåre Bluitgen, who claimed that artists were too scared of Islamic reprisals to provide illustrations for his book about the life of Muhammad.
— The printed cartoons included one depicting Muhammad greeting suicide bombers in heaven, saying: “Stop. Stop. We have run out of virgins!” — some Muslims believe that male suicide bombers are rewarded with 72 virgins. Another cartoon, however, depicted a Danish boy called Muhammad writing in Arabic on a blackboard the words: “Jyllands-Posten’s journalists are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs.”
— At least two Muslim countries recalled their ambassadors to Denmark. The resulting protests lasted six months and led to the deaths of dozens of people.
— Jyllands-Posten apologised in January last year, but to show solidarity with the newspaper a Norwegian paper, a Canadian magazine and two French publications reprinted the cartoons.
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Originally Posted by Kärnfysikern
