Guardian, 9 March 2010: Lars Vilks, the Swedish artist at the centre of an alleged assassination attempt, was put under police protection in 2007 when al-Qaida offered a reward for his “slaughter”. Vilks’s depiction of the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in a series of drawings prompted the terrorist group to put a $100,000 bounty on his head. The sketches had sparked a furious reaction from Muslim groups and countries including Pakistan and Iran. Some Islamic traditions consider it blasphemous to make or show an image of the prophet, and Vilks’s drawings were regarded as especially derogatory as dogs are a symbol of filth for many Muslims.

"Dogs are a symbol of filth in Islam"

In 2006 there were riots over Danish cartoons of the prophet, including one by Kurt Westergaard depicting Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. Westergaard was subjected to death threats and attempts on his life. . . . .

Seven held over plot to kill cartoonist (Irish Times, 9 March 2010)
Gardaí have arrested seven suspects in Waterford and Cork as part of an international investigation into an alleged plot to murder a cartoonist who drew images of the Prophet Muhammad.

The four men and three women – all of whom are foreign nationals – were arrested in a major search operation by Garda specialist units this morning. The operation’s main focus was on Co Waterford, where three of the men and two of the women were arrested. The Irish Times understands most of those arrested are from Algeria, Croatia, Libya, the United States and Palestinian, and that they are legally resident in Ireland.

They were arrested as part of an international investigation into an alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. Mr Vilks had been placed in special police custody for his own safety after his life was threatened in 2007 when his cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed with the body of a dog were published in the Swedish Nerikes Allehanda newspaper. The leader of an al-Qaeda faction in Iraq offered a reward or $100,000 for anybody who killed Mr Vilks. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, upped the reward to $150,000 if Vilks was “slaughtered like a lamb” and offered $50,000 for the head of the editor of the newspaper. . . . .

Irish arrest 7 over threat to kill Swedish artist (AP, 9 March 2010)
Irish police arrested seven Muslims 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. . . .

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