The Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy began in July 2007 with a series of drawings by Swedish artist Lars Vilks that depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a roundabout dog (a form of street installation in Sweden). Several art galleries in Sweden declined to show the drawings, citing security concerns and fear of violence. The controversy gained international attention after the Örebro-based regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of the drawings on 18 August as part of an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion. [1]
While several other leading Swedish newspapers had published the drawings already, this particular publication led to protests from Muslims in Sweden as well as official condemnations from several foreign governments including Islamic State of Iraq, [2] Iran, [3] Pakistan, [4] Afghanistan, [5] Egypt, [6] and Jordan, [7] as well as by the inter-governmental Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). [8] The controversy occurred about a year and a half after the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in Denmark in early 2006.
On 11 June 2007, Vilks was invited to participate in an art exhibition on the theme "The Dog in Art" (Swedish : Hunden i konsten) that was to be held in the small town of Tällerud in Värmland. Vilks submitted three pen and ink drawings on A4 paper depicting Muhammad as a roundabout dog. At this time, Vilks was already participating with drawings of Muhammad in another exhibition in Vestfossen, Norway, on the theme "Oh, My God". Vilks, who is a known proponent of institutional art, has stated that his original intention with the drawings was to "examine the political correctness within the boundaries of the art community". [9] According to Vilks, the art and culture communities in Sweden repeatedly criticize the United States and Israel, whereas Muslim values are rarely even questioned. [10]
On 20 July, the day before the opening of the exhibition in Tällerud, the organizers decided to withdraw Vilks's drawings from the exhibition due to security concerns and fear of violence from Islamic extremists (see Islam and blasphemy and Islam and animals ). Märta Wennerström, the exhibition's organizer, said that at first she "didn't realize the gravity of the situation" and that she made the decision to remove the drawings after consulting Swedish government agencies and private persons. [11] [12]
Following the first refusal to publish the drawings, Vilks submitted his drawings to the Gerlesborg School of Fine Art in Bohuslän (where he is a frequent lecturer) for a special teachers' exhibition that was going to be opened on 18 August. On 13 August, however, the school announced that they also had decided to reject the drawings due to security concerns. [13] This second rejection started an intense debate in the Swedish media about self-censorship and freedom of expression.
On 18 August, the Örebro-based regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of Vilks's drawings in an editorial on freedom of expression. The editorial defended "Muslims' right to freedom of religion" but also said it must be permitted to "ridicule Islam's most foremost symbols — just like all other religions' symbols." [1] On the same day, the drawings were also published in several other Swedish newspapers including Aftonbladet , Dagens Nyheter , Expressen and Upsala Nya Tidning .
On 27 August, the Swedish chargée d'affaires in Tehran, Gunilla von Bahr, was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry where she received a protest from the Iranian government against the publication in Nerikes Allehanda. [3] On 28 August, the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, commented on the drawings during a press conference. He was quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency as saying: "Religions call for friendship, equality, justice, peace and respect for divine prophets. The Zionists only pretend to believe in religion. They are telling lies. They are perpetrating oppression against the Europeans and putting at risk the prestige of Europe." [14] [15]
On 30 August, the Swedish chargé d'affaires in Islamabad, Lennart Holst, was summoned to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs to receive a similar protest from the Pakistani government. [16] The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs later issued a statement where it condemned the publication "in the strongest terms". [4]
On the same day, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), an inter-governmental organization which represents 57 Muslim countries, issued a statement where it strongly condemned the publishing of blasphemous caricatures of Muhammad by Swedish artist Lars Vilks in the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper. The secretary-general of OIC, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, further called on the Swedish government to take "immediate punitive actions against the artist and the publishers of the cartoon and asked for their unqualified apology". [8]
On 31 August, supporters from Islamic parties in Pakistan burned the Swedish flag in the city of Lahore. In Karachi, others torched an effigy of the Swedish Prime Minister to protest the cartoon. [17]
On 1 September, the Afghan newspaper Kabul Times published a statement by religious scholars, imams and the Afghan Ministry of Islamic Guidance. The statement said that "The sold-out enemies of Islam draw the cartoon of the respected Prophet of Islam once more. This has disturbed the Islamic world and aroused the indignation of all Muslims". The statement demanded those responsible be handed over to a court for prosecution and punishment. [5]
On 3 September, the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments condemned the publication, saying that "such an irresponsible act is not conducive to friendly ties between the Islamic world and the west". [6] On the same day, also the Jordanian government condemned the publication. A spokesperson for the government said that "The publication of this cartoon, which seeks to attack the character of the Prophet Mohammed, is unacceptable, rejected and condemned". [7]
On 25 August, a group of about 60 Muslims held a demonstration outside Nerikes Allehanda's office in Örebro to protest against the publication. [18]
On 31 August, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt commented on the issue and said: "I think it's important to say two things. First, we are eager to ensure that Sweden remains a country in which Muslims and Christians, people who believe in God and people who don't believe in God, can live side by side in a spirit of mutual respect [...] We are also eager to stand up for freedom of expression, which is enshrined in the constitution and comes naturally to us, and which ensures that we do not make political decisions about what gets published in the newspapers. I want to make sure we keep things that way." [19] The same day, around 300 demonstrators – led by the Islamic Cultural Centre in Örebro – assembled outside the offices of Nerikes Allehanda to protest against the newspaper's publication. [20]
On 7 September, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt met with ambassadors from 22 Muslim countries to discuss the issue. Reinfeldt said that he had "explained how Swedish society works and that we don't have elected representatives making editorial decisions", adding that "this is an open country, a tolerant country". [21] Prior to the meeting, Egyptian ambassador Mohamed Sotouhi said, according to the news agency TT, that he and a group of fellow ambassadors had agreed on a list of measures that Sweden needed to take and to present it to the Prime Minister. "We want to see action, not just nice words. We have to push for a change in the law", he said. [22]
After the meeting however, Reinfeldt denied that any such list had been presented to him. [21] According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, a statement had been delivered from the Swedish embassy in Damascus to Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmad Bader Hassoun in which Reinfeldt "expressed his regret of the incident which has offended and upset Muslims, calling against instigating or offending other religions". [23] The Swedish government has not commented on this statement.
Also on 7 September, a group of about 550 Muslims gathered outside the offices of the newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning in Uppsala, to protest against the newspaper's publication of the cartoons. [24]
Following the publication in Nerikes Allehanda, the Swedish police raised the security level around the newspaper's headquarters and some of its employees have been forced to use bodyguards after receiving death threats. Vilks himself has also received several death threats. [25] One Muslim woman in western Sweden has been arrested on charges of issuing a death threat (Swedish : olaga hot) against Vilks in an e-mail. The woman confirmed in police interrogation that she had written the mail and said that she did not have any regrets about it. [26] On 6 September, one actual roundabout dog created by Vilks and local children was set alight as an apparent threat. [27]
On 15 September, it was reported that the group Islamic State of Iraq had placed a bounty of at least $100,000 on the head of Lars Vilks and $50,000 on Ulf Johansson, editor-in-chief of Nerikes Allehanda. The statement was found in an audio file on an Islamist website and was read by a person who identified himself as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported head of the Islamic State of Iraq. "We announce a reward of $100,000 to anyone who kills this infidel criminal. This reward will be raised to $150,000 if he is slaughtered like a lamb," the statement said. The statement also threatened attacks on Swedish companies unless unspecified "crusaders" issued an apology. Vilks responded to the statement by saying: "I suppose this makes my art project a bit more serious. It's also good to know how much one is worth". [28] [2] [29]
The United States-based SITE Institute has reported that websites run by militant Islamists have listed the names of over 100 Swedish companies with addresses, maps and logos. The websites called for their readers to boycott these firms and "take revenge" on Sweden for the publication of the drawings. [10]
The European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) both condemned the death threats against Vilks and Johansson. ECFR also said it planned to issue a "counter fatwa" against the threats. [30]
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN), which represents over 18,000 newspapers around the world, issued a statement where it condemned the death threats and expressed support for Nerikes Allehanda in its right to publish the drawing. [31]
On 9 March 2010, seven people were arrested in the Republic of Ireland over an alleged plot to assassinate Vilks. The arrested were originally from Morocco and Yemen and had refugee status. [32] [33] [34] Of the seven, three men and two women were arrested in Waterford and Tramore and another man and woman at Ballincollig, near Cork. [33] Garda Síochána (the Irish police force), which conducted the arrests with support from the counter-terror Special Detective Unit and the National Support Services, said the suspects range in age from mid 20s to late 40s. [35] The Garda Síochána also added that throughout the investigation they had been "working closely with law enforcement agencies in the United States and in a number of European countries". [35]
The same day, Colleen R. LaRose from the Philadelphia, US, suburbs, had her federal indictment unsealed charging her with trying to recruit Islamic terrorists to murder Vilks. [36]
An emailed threat sent to a news agency and to the Swedish Security Service occurred made reference to this incident. [37] [38] Afterwards, two bombs exploded, injuring two people and killing the would-be attacker. [39] [40] [41] [42]
At the time of the December 2010 terror arrests, Lars Vilks' home page was subject to a hacker attack. According to Vilks' blog, the hacker declared the attacks would be continued with no end and that the targets are Vilks, Kurt Westergaard, and Geert Wilders. [43] [ non-primary source needed ]
In 2013, cartoonist Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier was added to Al-Qaeda's most wanted list, along with Lars Vilks and three Jyllands-Posten staff members: Kurt Westergaard, Carsten Juste, and Flemming Rose. [44] [45] [46]
On 14 February 2015, shots were fired at a public meeting in Denmark attended by Vilks, leaving one civilian dead and three policemen wounded. [47] The attacker fled after a brief gunfight with police and was later shot dead the next day after committing another shooting at a Jewish synagogue, killing one person and injuring two policemen.[ citation needed ]
TT News Agency is a Swedish news agency, the largest in Scandinavia, owned jointly by the country's newspapers and the media groups behind them. TT's services are used as the exclusive source of national news by many local media outlets.
Submission is a 2004 English-language Dutch short drama film produced and directed by Theo van Gogh, and written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali ; it was shown on NPO 3, a Dutch public broadcasting network, on 29 August 2004. The film's title is one of the possible translations of the Arabic word "Islam". A Islamist reacted to the film by assassinating Van Gogh.
Nerikes Allehanda is a daily newspaper based in Örebro, Sweden, and distributed across Örebro County. It was founded in 1843 as a weekly paper and became a daily in 1894. The paper is owned by the media group LT Liberala Tidningar AB and the stated position of the editorial is "independently liberal".
Flemming Rose is a Danish journalist, author and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. He previously served as foreign affairs editor at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. As culture editor of the same newspaper, he was principally responsible for the September 2005 publication of the cartoons that initiated the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy early the next year, and since then he has been an international advocate of the freedom of speech.
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons were first published by Jyllands-Posten in late September 2005; approximately two weeks later, nearly 3,500 people demonstrated peacefully in Copenhagen. In November, several European newspapers re-published the images, triggering more protests.
Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of satirical cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on September 30, 2005, led to violence, arrests, inter-governmental tension, and debate about the scope of free speech and the place of Muslims in the West. Many Muslims stressed that the image of Muhammad is blasphemous, while many Westerners defended the right of free speech. A number of governments, organizations, and individuals have issued statements defining their stance on the protests or cartoons.
Carsten Juste is a Danish journalist and former editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten, a Danish large-circulation newspaper.
Kurt Westergaard was a Danish cartoonist. In 2005 he drew a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, wearing a bomb in his turban as a part of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, which triggered several assassinations and murders committed by Muslim extremists around the world, diplomatic conflicts, and state-organized riots and attacks on Western embassies with several dead in Muslim countries. After the drawing of the cartoon, Westergaard received numerous death threats and was a target of assassination attempts. As a result, he was under constant police protection.
This page collects opinions, other than those of governments or inter-governmental organizations, on the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. For an overview, and details on the controversy please see the main page.
The 2006 Islamist demonstration outside the Embassy of Denmark in London took place on 3 February 2006, in response to controversy surrounding the publication of editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. The extremist UK-based Islamist groups al Ghurabaa and The Saviour Sect staged a controversial protest march from London Central Mosque near Marylebone Station to the Danish Embassy near Knightsbridge Underground station.
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005, most of which depicted Muhammad, a principal figure of the religion of Islam. The newspaper announced that this was an attempt to contribute to the debate about criticism of Islam and self-censorship. Muslim groups in Denmark complained, and the issue eventually led to protests around the world, including violence and riots in some Muslim countries.
In Islam, blasphemy is impious utterance or action concerning God, but is broader than in normal English usage, including not only the mocking or vilifying of attributes of Islam but denying any of the fundamental beliefs of the religion. Examples include denying that the Quran was divinely revealed, the Prophethood of one of the Islamic prophets, insulting an angel, or maintaining God had a son.
The Great Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at Krystalgade 12, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The congregation was formed at some stage during the 17th century and their first synagogue completed in 1766. The current synagogue was completed in 1833 and is defined by its unique architecture around the Ark. During the first half of the 19th century, synagogues continued to be built in the classical tradition, but there began to be a revival of Greek and Roman architecture. The Great Synagogue in Copenhagen is one of a few synagogues of its period to use Egyptian elements in the columns, ceiling and cornice over the ark.
Lars Endel Roger Vilks was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known for the controversy surrounding his drawings of Muhammad. Many years earlier he had created the sculptures Nimis and Arx, made of driftwood and rock, respectively. The area where the sculptures are located was proclaimed by Vilks as an independent country, "Ladonia".
The international reaction to Fitna consisted of condemnation from Muslims, several fatwa against Geert Wilders, and attempts by many Islamic countries to censor the film. The Dutch government immediately distanced itself from the film. Several Muslim organizations and political parties organized boycotts against Dutch products.
The permissibility of depictions of Muhammad in Islam has been a contentious issue. Oral and written descriptions of Muhammad are readily accepted by all traditions of Islam, but there is disagreement about visual depictions. The Quran does not explicitly or implicitly forbid images of Muhammad. The ahadith present an ambiguous picture, but there are a few that have explicitly prohibited Muslims from creating visual depictions of human figures. It is agreed on all sides that there is no authentic visual tradition as to the appearance of Muhammad, although there are early legends of portraits of him, and written physical descriptions whose authenticity is often accepted.
The Cartoons that Shook the World is a 2009 book by Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen about the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Klausen contends that the controversy was deliberately stoked up by people with vested interests on all sides, and argues against the view that it was based on a cultural misunderstanding about the depiction of Muhammad. The book itself caused controversy before its publication when Yale University Press removed all images from the book, including the controversial cartoons themselves and some other images of Muhammad.
Colleen Renée LaRose, also known as Jihad Jane and Fatima LaRose, is an American citizen who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years for terrorism-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder and providing material support to terrorists.
Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was a 2010 event in support of artists threatened with violence for drawing representations of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It stemmed from a protest against censorship of the American television show South Park episode "201", led by the show's distributor Comedy Central, in response to death threats that had been made against some of those responsible for two segments broadcast in April 2010. A drawing representing Muhammad was posted on the Internet on April 20, 2010, with a message suggesting that "everybody" create a drawing depicting Muhammad on May 20 in support of free speech.
On 11 December 2010, two bombs exploded in central Stockholm, killing the bomber. Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt and the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) described the bombings as acts of terrorism.