A Somali man was charged with attempting to kill Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard on Saturday. The alleged murder attempt on Friday took place four years after the Danish cartoonist’s drawing of Mohammad with a turban in the shape of a bomb sparked strong and violent reactions in Muslim countries.
The young Muslim man attempted to enter Mr. Westergaard’s house wielding an axe and a knife, Danish media reported on Saturday. After the attacker broke the window, the cartoonist, who was at home with his five-year-old granddaughter, managed to run into the “panic room” and alerted the police with an alarm button.
About two minutes later, the police arrived and shot him in the arm and knee after the 28-year-old man threw his axe toward one of the policeman, the Danish police spokesperson said.
“My grandchild did fine,” said Mr. Westergaard to the Danish media. “It was scary. It was close. Really close. But we did it.”
The attacker was later transferred to the hospital and is now charged with the attempted murder of the cartoonist, as well as the police officer.
According to the statement of the PET, the Danish security and intelligence service, the man “has close ties to the Somali terror organization al-Shabaab as well as to al-Qaeda leaders in East Africa.”
Danish newspaper Politiken reported, citing an unnamed intelligence source, that the attacker was also involved in an alleged plot against U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Kenya, which she visited in August last year. The PET chief Jakob Scharf didn’t confirmed the link, but the statement said that the man is “suspected of having been involved in terror-related activities in East Africa.”
The controversial cartoon, one of twelve drawings published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005, outraged Muslims around the world. Islamic law prohibits depiction of the Prophet Mohammad, the founder of the Islamic religion, for fear that it could lead to idolatry.
After several other newspapers also published the caricatures as a gesture of solidarity, more than 50 people died in riots in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. In Muslim countries, boycotts of Danish goods were called for, and three Danish Embassies were attacked.
Since February 2008, the cartoonist has been placed under around-the-clock police surveillance, after PET arrested three Muslims, charged with planning to assassinate Mr. Westergaard.
The 74-old-year Danish cartoonist said in an October interview with the National Post newspaper that one intention behind his drawing such a caricature was to test if Muslim immigrants respected Western values. “As I see it, many of the immigrants who came to Denmark, they had nothing. We gave them everything—money, apartments, their own schools, free university, health care. In return, we asked one thing—respect for democratic values, including free speech. Do they agree? This is my simple test.”
Mr. Westergaard also received the Sappho Award in 2008 from the Free Press Society in Denmark, given to a journalist who “combines excellence in his work with courage and a refusal to compromise.”
The young Muslim man attempted to enter Mr. Westergaard’s house wielding an axe and a knife, Danish media reported on Saturday. After the attacker broke the window, the cartoonist, who was at home with his five-year-old granddaughter, managed to run into the “panic room” and alerted the police with an alarm button.
About two minutes later, the police arrived and shot him in the arm and knee after the 28-year-old man threw his axe toward one of the policeman, the Danish police spokesperson said.
“My grandchild did fine,” said Mr. Westergaard to the Danish media. “It was scary. It was close. Really close. But we did it.”
The attacker was later transferred to the hospital and is now charged with the attempted murder of the cartoonist, as well as the police officer.
According to the statement of the PET, the Danish security and intelligence service, the man “has close ties to the Somali terror organization al-Shabaab as well as to al-Qaeda leaders in East Africa.”
Danish newspaper Politiken reported, citing an unnamed intelligence source, that the attacker was also involved in an alleged plot against U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Kenya, which she visited in August last year. The PET chief Jakob Scharf didn’t confirmed the link, but the statement said that the man is “suspected of having been involved in terror-related activities in East Africa.”
The controversial cartoon, one of twelve drawings published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005, outraged Muslims around the world. Islamic law prohibits depiction of the Prophet Mohammad, the founder of the Islamic religion, for fear that it could lead to idolatry.
After several other newspapers also published the caricatures as a gesture of solidarity, more than 50 people died in riots in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. In Muslim countries, boycotts of Danish goods were called for, and three Danish Embassies were attacked.
Since February 2008, the cartoonist has been placed under around-the-clock police surveillance, after PET arrested three Muslims, charged with planning to assassinate Mr. Westergaard.
The 74-old-year Danish cartoonist said in an October interview with the National Post newspaper that one intention behind his drawing such a caricature was to test if Muslim immigrants respected Western values. “As I see it, many of the immigrants who came to Denmark, they had nothing. We gave them everything—money, apartments, their own schools, free university, health care. In return, we asked one thing—respect for democratic values, including free speech. Do they agree? This is my simple test.”
Mr. Westergaard also received the Sappho Award in 2008 from the Free Press Society in Denmark, given to a journalist who “combines excellence in his work with courage and a refusal to compromise.”
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