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'Muhammad artist' in hiding
18/09/2007 14:57 - (SA)
Stockholm - A Swedish artist under death threat after drawing a caricature of Islam's Prophet Mohammed depicted as a dog has been advised to leave his isolated house in southern Sweden, reports said on Tuesday.
Artist Lars Vilks was allowed on Monday to collect some personal belongings after police first searched his home, an hour's drive north of Helsingborg, Swedish media reported.
Vilks now under police protection would move to a secret location, but said he would continue to debate freedom of speech and religion.
A bounty was offered over the weekend for Vilks and Ulf Johansson, editor-in-chief of the regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda that a month ago printed the caricature along with an editorial on freedom of speech and religion.
Johansson also has police protection and security has been raised at the newspaper's offices, including checks of incoming mail.
The death threat was issued on Saturday by the leader of the al- Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq, an insurgency group held responsible for several acts of violence, that put a $100 000 reward on the head of Vilks.
The threat was attributed to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic group in the Abu Ghraib area.
The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella organisation for al-Qaeda militant groups in the war-ravaged country.
The Nerikes Allehanda publication sparked criticism from Muslims and others in and beyond Sweden, but the death threats have been condemned by several organisations including the Muslim Council of Sweden that groups about a fourth of Sweden's 400 000 Muslims.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has also met with Muslim ambassadors from 22 countries as part of efforts to avert a crisis of the magnitude sparked when a newspaper in neighbouring Denmark published 12 caricatures of Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
That publication later triggered angry protests in many Muslim countries in January and February 2006, including attacks on Danish embassies. - Sapa-dpa
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