Cartoon site shut down
2006-02-10 13:59
Stockholm - A Swedish internet provider has shut down the website of an extreme right fringe party after authorities voiced concerns over a Prophet Muhammad drawing contest posted on the site, Swedish security police said on Friday.
Internet provider Levonline shut down the small nationalist party Sweden Democrats' website late on Thursday following discussions with both the foreign ministry and the Saepo security police.
The party's publication SD-Kuriren issued a competition on its website on January 10 for drawings of Muhammad, just as criticism of the Danish newspaper that first published 12 cartoons of the Muslim prophet last September was beginning to swell.
The website www.sdkuriren.se, which also offered links to the Danish cartoons that have sparked violent protests across the Muslim world, reportedly moved to a new internet provider and was still visible on Friday.
"It's true that we contacted them (Levonline)... We presented the threat we saw" in connection with the site, said Saepo spokesperson Jakob Larsson.
He added, however, that his agency "did not tell them to shut down the site. They made that decision on their own".
A foreign ministry spokesperson also acknowledged that discussions had been held with the internet provider. Levonline refused to comment.