Things are hotting up in Denmark again this week after the arrest yesterday of three Islamic terror suspects who were apparently planning to murder cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Denmark’s three main newspapers are taking the provocative step today of reprinting the incendiary Westergaard cartoon showing the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb.
The Westergaard cartoon was one of 12 depicting the prophet which triggered riots around the world leading to dozens of deaths in 2005.
Westergaard is currently living the kind of existence once enjoyed by Salman Rushdie moving between secret addresses as security services tracked the alleged plotters.
According to a report in The Times he was back at work yesterday to draw a self-portrait for today’s editions. It shows him still clutching his pen and a Danish flag, but he is obscured by a dark and bloody cloud featuring Arabic script which declares: “Glorious Koran”.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, said. “In Denmark we have freedom not only to think and talk, but also to draw.”
Jyllands-Posten and two other Danish papers, Politikenand Berlingske Tidende, said that they would reprint the original cartoon as part of their news coverage todayand Jyllands-Posten posted it on its front page of its website yesterday.
David T adds:
In reporting the story, The Times has not republished the cartoon, which looks like this:
