Remember those Danish Cartoons?

[brennan]

Danish cartoons 'plotters' held

The row saw Danish flags being burnt in Muslim states
Danish police have arrested five people suspected of planning to attack a cartoonist who drew caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Denmark's intelligence agency said the arrests were made in the western Aarhus region at 0330 GMT "to prevent a murder linked to terrorism".

Three of those detained are Danes and the other two are foreigners.

The pictures in Denmark's biggest daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 sparked deadly worldwide protests.

Muslims regard any visual representation of Muhammad as blasphemous.

'Concrete plans'

The intelligence agency said the detentions were made "after lengthy surveillance".

I have turned fear into anger and resentment

Kurt Westergaard
Cartoonist

It 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 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 caricature featured the head of Islam's holiest prophet with a turban depicting a bomb with a lit fuse.

The cartoons were later reprinted by more than 60 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.

Source.

They're still putting the 'fun' in I see...

 

[brennan]

And do you remember the protests?

Four men jailed over cartoon demo

Javed, Muhid, Saleem and Rahman had denied holding extremist views
Four Muslim men have been jailed for their part in protests at the Danish embassy in London, against cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.
Mizanur Rahman, 24, Umran Javed, 27, and Abdul Muhid, 24, were each jailed for six years for soliciting to murder after telling a crowd to bomb the UK.

A fourth man, Abdul Saleem, 32, was jailed for four years for stirring up racial hatred at the protest in 2006.

The men, from London and Birmingham, were convicted at the Old Bailey.

Judge Brian Barker said their words had been designed to encourage murder and terrorism.

Muhid was not a man without prospects



Who are the jailed four?

About 300 protestors marched outside the Danish embassy in February last year after cartoons satirising Muhammad were published in newspapers in Denmark and other European countries.

Outside the sentencing hearing, a group of around 40 demonstrators waved placards with slogans including "Muslims Under Siege".

'Blood running'

Rahman, from Palmers Green, north London, was filmed at the rally talking over a loudspeaker and calling for UK soldiers to be brought back from Iraq in body bags.

He said: "We want to see their blood running in the streets of Baghdad.

"We want to see the Mujahideen shoot down their planes the way we shoot down birds. We want to see their tanks burn in the way we burn their flags."

We shall continue to take incitement very seriously and prosecute it robustly where there is enough evidence for us to do so

Sir Ken Macdonald, DPP


Limits on freedom of speech?

Javed, from Birmingham, was filmed by police shouting: "Bomb, bomb Denmark. Bomb, bomb USA."

Father-of-five and BT engineer Saleem was cleared of soliciting murder at his trial in February, but convicted of stirring up racial hatred.


Saleem, from Poplar, east London, chanted, "7/7 on its way" and "Europe, you will pay with your blood".

Finally, Abdul Muhid, 24, said to be the leader of the demonstration, chanted "Bomb, bomb the UK" and waved placards with slogans such as "Annihilate those who insult Islam".

The men had denied having extremist views and said they were simply following others rather than leading the protests.

'Stepped over line'

After the case, Ch Supt Ian Thomas, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "We have a long history of facilitating lawful demonstration, taking into account freedom of speech.

"However, these people stepped over that line and broke the law."

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, said: "Terrorism attacks our way of life and incitement can make a very real contribution to it.

"We shall continue to take incitement very seriously and prosecute it robustly where there is enough evidence for us to do so."

Source.

 

[CurtSibling]

Speaking as a cartoonist, I think the furore over the cartoons is made even
more idiotic by the dishonest way the activists distorted the facts originally.

Now, the 'religion of peace' gives us another example of bloodlust, as they go
after artists with a view to kill...Yep - And people wonder why I am atheist.

...

 

[Sofista]

I take the occasion to invite people to stop eating date palm fruits and pick up Danish butter cookies. I decided that when first Danemark produts were boycotted in the Arab world, and never looked back.

 

[CurtSibling]

I love Danish pastries...!

 

[Yoda Power]

Scary, the arrests were done very close to my home.

 

[holy king]

I love Danish pastries...!

have to dissapoint you, they are not of danish origin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_misconceptions#Food_origins

 

[Swedishguy]

What is this "Aarhus" thing? I thought it was spelled "Århus".

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Can't believe it's been 2 years.

 

[dosed150]

What is this "Aarhus" thing? I thought it was spelled "Århus".

a dumbed down version for people who dont have Å in their alphabet like that german letter that looks sort of like a b can be written as two s'

 

[CurtSibling]

have to dissapoint you, they are not of danish origin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_misconceptions#Food_origins

Heh!
I suspected that...But Danish Legend biscuits are what I will be buying from now on!

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

You know, I read that about Danishes just yesterday, as the result of another thread.

 

[Sofista]

Well, there's still my beloved butter cookies...

 

[holy king]

You know, I read that about Danishes just yesterday, as the result of another thread.

well, me too

 

[Evie]

Excellent job on the part of the danish police catching these people before they carried out the murder.

Even if the cartoonists involved were moronic jerks (and I certainly believe they were), that in no way would ever justify murdering them.

 

[Pannonius]

Excellent job on the part of the danish police catching these people before they carried out the murder.

Even if the cartoonists involved were moronic jerks (and I certainly believe they were), that in no way would ever justify murdering them.

Why are they moronic jerks? For daring to criticize islam? For not being good little dhimmis?

 

[CurtSibling]

The imagery (passed off as the cartoons) shown to the Islamic world was distorted by muslim militants in order to create hatred...

A purposeful attempt to cause anger and violence, more calculated and malign than any Danish cartoonist ever was!

There be the ironies!

...

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Yeah, any sympathy I would have had on this one was pretty much wiped out when I learned that the most offensive ones were actually made by imams. I mean, really, people.

 

[CurtSibling]

Typical cynical Muslim manipulation of deluded dupes by ruthless religious ruffians!

...

 

[Evie]

Why are they moronic jerks? For daring to criticize islam? For not being good little dhimmis?

Because, frankly, "URRRRH, MUHAMAD WITH A BOMB ON HIS HEAD CUZ ARABS ARE TEH TERRORISTS!" does not bring anything useful, intelligent, or rational to any sort of debate on Islam. Which, you know, criticism is usually supposed to do.

At best, it only remind people of something they already knew more than well enough (wow, SHOCK, there are people out there who commit acts of terror in the name of Islam! EL GASPO!), and at worse it just inflame hotheads on all side.