Danish paper reprints controversial Muhammad cartoon
Wednesday, 13 Feb 2008 09:25
Danish paper Jyllands-Posten has reprinted the controversial image
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Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten has reprinted a controversial cartoon satirising the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
The caricature sparked violent protests around the world when it was originally published two years ago.
Jyllands-Posten reprinted the image in its Wednesday issue and on its website.
The image depicts the prophet with a turban shown as a bomb with a lit fuse.
It is reported that two more Danish newspapers are planning on reissuing the cartoons as part of their coverage of the story.
The Associated Press news agency quotes the papers as saying that they would not be intimidated by fanatics.
Yesterday it was announced that three people had been arrested, suspected of plotting to kill cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Two of the suspects were Tunisian and the third was Danish of Moroccan origin.
Mr Westergaard said in a statement published on the newspapers' website: "Of course I fear for my life when the police intelligence service say that some people have concrete plans to kill me.
"But I have turned fear into anger and resentment," he said.
Jyllands-Posten editor Carsten Juste said that his staff had been "deeply shaken" by the news.
"We'd become more or less used to death threats and bomb threats since the cartoons, but it's the first time that we've heard about actual murder plans – that’s news," he claimed.
Twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were originally printed in September 2005.
They led to mass protests, with Danish diplomatic offices being torched in Damascus and Beirut and numerous people being killed in Nigeria, Libya and
Pakistan.
Mr Westergaard and his wife are currently under police protection.