Swedish artist Lars Vilks is the latest cartoonist to receive a threat from jihad group al-Shabaab.

The phlegmatic creator of the Mohammed roundabout dogs series of cartoons got a couple phone calls from someone claiming to represent the Somalian Islamothugs.

Vilks told his local newspaper:

The man, who spoke accented Swedish, asked me if I knew about what happened in Denmark and to the artist Kurt Westergaard. I said I certainly did.

The man then explained that they were out after more and that they would soon come for me. I told them they were welcome.

Seven people have been arrested in the Irish Republic over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist for depicting Muhammad, police say.

The four men and three women are all Muslim immigrants, according to media reports, though a police statement did not confirm this.

Cartoonist Lars Vilks had depicted Muhammad with the body of a dog in the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper.

In 2007 a group linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq offered a $100,000 reward for killing Vilks, and a 50% bonus if he was slaughtered like a lamb by having his throat cut.

Irish police said the seven suspects were arrested after an investigation into a conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction, a probe that also involved police in the US and other European countries.

Ireland's RTE news network said those in custody were originally refugees from Morocco and Yemen, but had gained asylum and were in the Republic of Ireland legally.

Vilks was quoted as saying he was unfazed by the arrests, which he said he thought could be linked to two death threats he had received by telephone in January.

Vilks has been under police protection in Sweden since threats were made against his life. The Vilks controversy arose in 2007, when his entry in an arts project was published by the newspaper. It pictured a dog with the head of a bearded man in a turban.

Three leading Swedish newspapers and the national broadcaster carried a cartoon depicting Muhammad with a dog's body after an alleged plot to murder the artist who drew it was unveiled in the Republic of Ireland.

The threat to Lars Vilks was a threat against all Swedes, the country's biggest daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, proclaimed, adding that the new year axe attack on a Danish cartoonist for drawing the Prophet meant that Scandinavian values of openness were being assaulted.

The drawing by Mr Vilks was published yesterday in the Stockholm-based Dagens Nyheter and Expressen newspapers and the Malmo daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet, in defence of one of the cornerstones of Sweden's constitution. This states that Swedes have the right to freedom of speech and cannot be restrained from the lawful expression of their views.

Gunilla Herlitz, the Dagens Nyheter editor-in-chief, defended the reprinting of the cartoon as a legitimate part of the story of the day. I believe that, in this case, the cartoon is a part of the news and therefore we would like to show the readers what this is all about. But the cartoon is published in a context and is not the leading picture on the page.

Update: 3 Released

14th March 2010. Based on article from news.bbc.co.uk

Police in the Irish Republic have released three of seven people detained over an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist.

They were freed without charge after three-and-a-half days of questioning.

The trio had been held on suspicion of planning to kill Lars Vilks over a cartoon he drew depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

Update: Protests in Pakistan

14th March 2010. Based on article from nation.com.pk

A protest day was observed across Pakistan on Friday to condemn republication of supposedly blasphemous sketches in Swedish newspapers.

Ulema and khateebs delivered special speeches on the issue of blasphemy during Friday prayers.

Condemnation resolutions were passed against Norwegian, Swedish and Danish governments.

After Juma prayers, peaceful demonstrations were held outside mosques to protest against publication of the sketches in western newspapers.

Highly charged participants chanted slogans against Danish, Swedish and Norwegian governments. The speakers urged the Muslims to boycott all products of Denmark, Sweden and Norway to convey a strong message. They urged the rulers to expel Swedish, Norwegian and Denish ambassadors from Pakistan.

In Lahore, addressing a public gathering Ameer Jama't-ud-Dawa Hafiz Saeed said that silence of rulers in Muslim countries over the blasphemy was criminal. He stressed the need of forcibly stopping the enemies of Islam from indulging in the criminal acts of blasphemy.

Update: 2 Charged

16th March 2010. Based on article from news.bbc.co.uk

Two men have been charged in the Irish Republic in connection with an investigation into an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist.

They were refused bail after detectives told the court they were not convinced their identities were authentic.

Ali Charaf Damach was charged with sending a menacing text message on 9 January.

Abdul Salam Monsour Khalil Al-Jahani was charged with an immigration offence after allegedly giving a false name. He is accused of presenting false documentation under the Immigration Act 2004.

A third man who was also being held has been released.

Update: Malaysia whinges at Sweden

16th March 2010. Based on article from straitstimes.com

Malaysia has urged the Swedish government to act against three newspapers that reprinted a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, its foreign minister said.

Malaysia strongly denounces the reprinting of the caricature of Prophet Muhammad by three Swedish newspapers on 10 March 2010, Anifah Aman said in an unusually outspoken statementy.

He said his country was concerned that such despicable acts disregard the sensitivity of the Muslim world in the name of freedom of expression. Such irresponsible acts are provocative and offensive in nature and hence it is totally unacceptable, he added. Malaysia wishes to request the Swedish government to take measures against such publications to prevent the recurrence of such irresponsible acts in the future.

The conservative Islamic party PAS said it would organise a demonstration after Friday prayers and submit a letter of protest to the Swedish embassy over the re-printing of the caricature.

Update: Vilks becomes a Roundabout Dog

22nd March 2010. Based on article from thelocal.se

Swedish artist Lars Vilks has confirmed that he has sold around 20 copies of his cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a dog to private collectors, according to the Helsingborgs Dagbladet daily.

Vilks said that the interest has come from private buyers and added that he experiences no moral dilemma selling a work that many consider deeply insulting.

In a new turn to the controversy which returned to the spotlight this month after the discovery of an alleged plot to murder the unrepentant artist, a colleague Kent Viberg has created a similar piece featuring Vilks in place of the prophet Muhammad.

When the alleged plot became known on March 9th, several major Swedish newspapers re-printed the cartoons as a gesture of support for Vilks and freedom of expression, but Viberg has instead accused his colleague of being interested only in marketing himself.

I do not feel sorry for Lars Vilks, Viberg told local Karlshamn newspaper Östran arguing that the Muhammad cartoons contribute neither to art nor the public debate. Kent Viberg unveiled his work at a roundabout in the southern Swedish city of Karlshamn on Thursday featuring a French bull dog with a photograph of Lars Vilks at its head.

Update: US Charges

4th April 2010. Based on article from timesonline.co.uk

A second US woman has been charged over the alleged Jihad Jane terror plot to kill the Swedish cartoonist whose drawing of the prophet Mohammed triggered worldwide protests in 2007.

Mother-of-one Jamie Paulin Ramirez surrendered herself to FBI agents at Philadelphia airport, Pennsylvania, after flying in from Ireland where she had been freed earlier.

Ramirez, a US resident from Colorado, was first arrested in Ireland on suspicion of conspiring with her friend Colleen LaRose to murder Lars Vilks.

Update: Guilty Plea

2nd February 2011. See article from bbc.co.uk

The US woman who allegedly called herself Jihad Jane has pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to involvement in an overseas terrorism plot.

Colleen LaRose conspired with Islamists and pledged to murder in the name of a Muslim holy war, prosecutors say.

The 46-year-old was indicted as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who drew pictures of the Prophet Muhammad.

A Swedish artist noted for a Muhammad roundabout dog cartoon was assaulted by a group of muslims as he delivered a university lecture.

Lars Vilks says he was head-butted by an audience member as he spoke about the limits of artistic freedom. The cartoonist's glasses were broken, but he was not injured.

The artist said a group of about 15 people had been shouting and trying to interrupt the lecture, which was attended by about 250 people: A man ran up and threw himself over me. I was head-butted and my glasses were broken, Vilks was quoted as saying by the AP news agency.

A video clip of the attack was posted on the website of a Swedish newspaper. It showed police using pepper spray and batons to control an angry crowd shouting God is great in Arabic as Vilks was led away. Two people were detained.

Update: Hacked

15th May 2010. Based on article from thelocal.se

The website of artist Lars Vilks was hacked on the day after he was attacked as he gave a lecture at Uppsala University.

Instead of gaining access to the artist's controversial drawing of Muhammad as a dog, which sparked outrage in parts of the Islamic world after its publication in Swedish newspapers in 2007, visitors to Vilks.net were greeted by a message from a hacker with the signature Al Qatari.

An aggressive greeting charging the artist with still talking about the Prophet Muhammad, is followed by a warning that the site will remain a target: We really never stop hacking your site and I will show you how can I hacking your computer.

Update: Arson Attempt

16th May 2010. Based on article from uk.news.yahoo.com

Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who angered Muslims by portraying the Prophet Mohammad as a dog, has suffered a failed arson attack on his house, but was not home when it happened, the artist and police said.

Vilks told Reuters that people smashed windows at his house and tried to light petrol that they threw inside. But the attack resulted only in small damage in the kitchen and on the facade.

Probably I can't live there any more, said Vilks.

Update: Interrupted Lecture to be Rescheduled

28th May 2010.  See article from mediawatchwatch.org.uk

Lars Vilks has been invited to have another go at giving his lecture at Uppsala University.

The Department of Philosophy's director of studies, Rysiek Sliwinski said: Violence and intimidation will not silence people at the university or elsewhere in society.

Update: Convicted

21st June 2010.  Based on article from thelocal.se

A muslim teenager was convicted by a Swedish court for assaulting a police officer during an attack on Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who courted controversy with a drawing of Muhammed.

The officer was hit by the 16-year-old as he tried to prevent the teenager from assaulting the cartoonist at a lecture at Uppsala University last month.

The teenager was sentenced to 20 days community service and ordered to undergo a psychological assessment and pay damages of 500 kronor ($75) to the officer.

Update: Appeal Rejected

24th September 2010.  Based on article from dailytimes.com.pk

A Swedish appeals court has upheld jail sentences handed to two brothers who firebombed the home of a Swedish artist for committing blasphemy. But it refused a request by the prosecutor to increase the sentences.

The court of appeal for the regions of Skaane and Blekinge confirmed the jail sentences handed down Mensur Alija and his brother Mentor for the attack on Lars Vilks. They received two and three-year sentences respectively for attempted arson.

Lars Vilks, the Mohammed roundabout dog artist, whose free-speech lecture was so rudely interrupted last May, has been invited back to Uppsala university for a second attempt to complete his talk.

He will resume his aborted lecture on 7th October in the Department of Philosophy.

Folke Tersman, the department head, said: That a university lecture is interrupted by violence is a serious thing, regardless of the opinion that provoked the reaction… It is incompatible with the basic values democracy is based on. It is to uphold these values that we are inviting him again.

Meanwhile in North America

Based on article from torontosun.com

Half the North American dates for a Swedish free speech activist have been cancelled following poor ticket sales and heavy security concerns.

Lars Vilks was scheduled to speak in Philadelphia, Ottawa, Toronto and Boston.

The amount of money would have to spend to ensure security in Ottawa, and the number of registrations, did not justify the expense, said Mary Lou Ambrogio, a vice-president with the International Free Press Society.

The Philadelphia event was also cancelled after the Department of Homeland Security declared him a security risk.

It appears that Mr. Vilks is considered a very high security threat by U.S. law enforcement, and it was decided that they would cancel because they could not secure the event to everyone's liking, Ambrogio said.

The event scheduled for Sunday at Toronto's Zionist Centre will still go ahead.

Update: The Price of Free Speech

11th October 2010. Based on article from thelocal.se

Four people were refused entry to a lecture given by Swedish artist Lars Vilks at Uppsala University.

Late last month, the university invited Vilks to complete his on freedom of speech which he first attempted to give at the university in May.

The initial lecture, however, was interrupted when Vilks was headbutted by a man attending the lecture.

Vilks' follow up talk on Thursday touched on themes including violence, cruelty and injustice, and demarcating borders within the art world.

The lecture hall was filled with spectators, including many journalists, as well as a large number of security guards and police. The police presence was substantial, which about 130 officers dispatched to the lecture. Barricades were also erected as an extra precaution against possible disruptions.

The cost of the operation was estimated at 700,000 kronor ($104,907), according to news agency TT.

The expenses include the security guards responsible for checking identification and the x-ray machines at the entrance. Those costs will be covered by the university and are estimated at 50,000 to 70,000 kronor.

Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, an Iraqi-born Swede, who set off a car bomb in the Swedish capital before killing himself with a second bomb strapped to his body, declared his motives in emails to a Swedish news agency.

The emails refer to a Swedish cartoonist, Lars Vilks, whose 2007 drawing of the Prophet Muhammad as a dog infuriated Muslims around the world, and to Sweden's 500 soldiers in Afghanistan.

The email warned:

In the name of God the merciful. Prayers and peace to the Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him.

Thanks to Lars Vilks and his paintings of the Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, and your soldiers in Afghanistan and your silence on all this so shall your children, daughters, brothers and sisters die in the same way as our brothers and sisters and children die.

Now the Islamic states have fulfilled what they promised you. We are here in Europe and in Sweden, we are a reality, not an invention, I will not say more about this.

Our actions will speak for themselves, as long as you do not end your war against Islam and humiliation of the prophet and your stupid support for the pig Vilks.

Lars Vilks is the Swedish artist who created a stir with a drawing of Mohammed as a Roundabout Dog back in 2007.

It seems that Vilks has now become a persona non grata in the Swedish art world.

Bukowski's auction house organized a charity auction for the 29th of March. The sponsors asked Vilks if he could contribute one of his works to support organizations working against HIV, so he sent a drawing.

Unfortunately, Bukowski's received so many angry responses that they decided to remove his piece from the auction.

Three muslim men accused of plotting to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks were acquitted of the charges in Gothenburg, but were nevertheless convicted for weapons violations.

The prosecutor had sought to have the men sentenced to three years in prison, but the Gothenburg District Court ordered the three men released from custody following the conclusion of the trial in December.

Vilks has faced numerous death threats and was the target of another suspected assassination plot since his drawing of Mohammed as a dog was first published by a Swedish regional newspaper in 2007, illustrating an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.

The three suspects -- one Somali citizen and two Swedes in their mid-20s -- were all carrying knives when they were arrested and were, according to the prosecution, planning to stab Vilks to death.