Free Republic

Denmark’s integration minister, Inger Støjberg, took to Facebook on Tuesday to praise the Mohammed cartoons that a dozen years ago plunged her country into its most severe international crisis ever. Støjberg shared a screenshot of her iPad background displaying cartoonist Kurt Westergaard’s drawing of the prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb in his turban. She did so in response to the decision by Skovgaard Museum in Viborg to not display the 12 caricatures of Mohammed published by Jyllands-Posten newspaper as part of an exhibition on blasphemy. The integration minister said that the drawings, particularly the one by Westergaard that has led...

A former Danish Islamist who seven years ago traveled the Muslim world fueling the uproar over newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad is back in the headlines in Denmark after doing an about-face on the issue. Once a leading critic of the Danish cartoons, which sparked fiery protests in Muslim countries, Lebanese-born Ahmad Akkari now says the Jyllands-Posten newspaper had the right to print them. His unexpected change of heart has received praise from pundits and politicians in recent weeks, though some question his sincerity. It has also disappointed some in the country’s Muslim minority who were deeply offended by...

... The indictment said that in mid-2008, Ms. LaRose, using the aliases JihadJane and Fatima LaRose, began posting on YouTube and other Internet sites messages about her desire to help Muslims. A MySpace profile for a woman who refers to herself as JihadJane displays pictures of bloodshed and violence in the Middle East scrawled with messages like “Palestine We Are With You” and “Sympathize With Gaza.” ... The indictment refers to e-mail messages in which a conspirator, citing how Ms. LaRose’s appearance and American passport would make it easier for her to operate undetected, allegedly directed her in March 2009...

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by drawing the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog said Wednesday he has no regrets and believes the suspects in an alleged plot to kill him were not professionals. Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous death threats over the controversial cartoon, said he has built his own defense system, including a "homemade" safe room and a barbed-wire sculpture that could electrocute potential intruders. He said he also has an ax "to chop down" anyone trying to climb through the windows of his home in southern Sweden.

Yale University is publishing a book about the notorious cartoons of Muhammad, printed in Danish newspapers in 2006, that inflamed radical Muslims and touched off riots in which upward of 200 people were killed. While many Muslims say any depiction of Muhammad is blasphemous, the irreverence shown to Judeo-Christian religious figures has become so commonplace in Western culture that only the deeply religious notice anymore, and when they complain, they're dismissed as bigots or worse by academics and journalists. By comparison, the Muhammad cartoons were quite mild, but you're going to have to take our word because Yale, that bastion...

A New York Post cartoon that appears to link President Obama to a violent chimpanzee drew criticism Wednesday on media Web sites and from civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton. The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows a dead chimp and two police officers, one with a smoking gun. The caption reads, “They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.'' The cartoon refers to Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police in Stamford, Conn. on Monday after it mauled a friend of its owner. It links the chimp to Obama,...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested this week on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday. The cartoonist, who works under the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating hate speech laws and held overnight before being released, a spokeswoman for his publisher Uitgeverij Xtra said. "He was arrested with a great show of force, by around 10 policemen," the spokeswoman said.

Belgian police is protecting a 17th century pulpit in the Flemish town of Dendermonde. The pulpit in the Catholic church of Our Lady dates from 1685, two years after the battle of Vienna when the Christian armies of the Polish King John III Sobieski defeated the Turks poised to overrun Europe. The sculpted wooden pulpit, made by Mattheus van Beveren, depicts a man subdued by angels and represents the triumph of Christianity over Islam. The man is generally thought to be Mohammed. He is holding a book which is generally assumed to be the Koran. Two years ago, on April...

Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, Liveleak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers. This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realised LiveLeak.com is...

THE HAGUE, 28/03/08 - While the cabinet is losing sleep over MP Geert Wilders' unpublished Koran film, a second film is due out on 20 April. Ehsan Jami plans to launch a cartoon film featuring the Prophet Mohammed as a paedophile. Jami, born in Iran, announced that his film, The Life of Mohammed, is due for release on 20 April. On TV programme Netwerk, the young politician (22) showed a screen-shot in which the Prophet, with a visible erection, takes a child to a mosque to have sex. On the mosque is a swastika. The fragment is a reference to...

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Sudan has enacted a ban on Danish imports in reaction to the reprinting of a cartoon that satirizes Islam's Prophet Muhammad, the Sudanese state-run news agency said Tuesday. Seventeen Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoon — showing Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban — in a gesture of free speech on Feb. 13, a day after three men were arrested in an alleged plot to kill the drawing's creator. The reprinting prompted protests in Muslim countries and among Muslims in Denmark, though so far the reaction has been low-key in comparison to the 2006 riots that followed...

February 24, 2008Universal Islamic 'Blasphemy' Law ? By Andrew G. Bostom Almost two weeks ago, "three men with a Muslim background" were arrested by Danish police on anti-terrorism charges, suspected of having plotted to murder Kurt Westergaard, a cartoonist for Jyllands-Posten. Westergaard is one of the 12 cartoonists who on September 30, 2005 published cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad to protest the tacit enforcement in Danish society of Islam's taboo on depictions of Muhammad, no matter how banal, or inoffensive, through intimidation -- a clear violation of Western freedom of expression. Upon learning of the arrests, Westergaard (noted for...

Cartoons were terror motive claim 17.05.2007 Prosecutors claim that four men charged with planning a terrorist bombing were seeking revenge for publication of the Mohammed cartoons Retribution for a Danish newspaper's publication of the now-infamous Mohammed cartoons was one of the motives behind four men's alleged plans to detonate a bomb in Copenhagen, according to the assistant crown prosecutor in the Vollsmose terror trial. Charlotte Alsing Juul accused three of the men of using the cartoons and Denmark's participation in the Iraq war as justification for planning to bomb 'a place where political decisions are made', such as parliament's address...

Cartoon protester guilty of soliciting murder By Richard Holt and agencies Last Updated: 5:40pm GMT 05/01/2007 A British citizen has been found guilty of soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred in the wake of the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. Umran Javed, 27, was said to have been one of the leaders of a demonstration against the cartoons in London. Hundreds of Muslims demonstrated in London against the publication of the cartoons He was found guilty of calling for the murder of American and Danish people and remanded in custody until sentencing in April. Javed, of Washwood...

A ceramic bobblehead doll of the Prophet Muhammed - created to resemble the infamous caricature published by a Danish newspaper - is being hawked online for $22.99 a pop by an ex-Marine. The unapologetic creator, Timothy Ames, 28, said the bobblehead is similar to "dashboard Jesus" figurines that can be stuck with adhesive to flat surfaces. "I thought, 'If they flipped out over some cartoons what will they do with a dashboard Muhammed?'" Ames said from his home in Hawaii. But Islamic experts are not amused, saying the bobbleheads could anger Muslims, whose religion strictly prohibits depictions of the prophet....

Sadistic irony By TrevorBothwell Jun 12, 2006 In the June 7 edition of its newspaper, The Arizona Republic published a repulsive cartoon by Steve Benson that desecrates the U.S. Marine Corps' Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem and defames the USMC as a collection of wanton murderers. The source of Benson's vitriol? The alleged murders of 24 Iraqis at Haditha in November 2005. Normally I resist the temptation to reprint professional cartoons without first receiving proper permissions, and this time is no different. However, this cartoon truly must be seen to be believed. Simply go to Benson's page here, click on...

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Journalists gave eagerly awaited film "The Da Vinci Code" a cool reception at its first press screening on Tuesday, a day ahead of the world premiere of the adaptation of Dan Brown's controversial novel. The release of the big-budget Hollywood thriller has already prompted a wave of protests from Christians across the world who believe the theories put forward in the novel are blasphemous. One of the central characters suggests Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and they established a dynasty which elements within the Church would stop at nothing to try to cover up. The outcry...

More than 50,000 people attended the funeral Saturday of a Pakistani student who died while under arrest in Germany for allegedly planning to attack a newspaper that published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. About three dozen people were injured in a stampede when crowds tried to enter the family's home in the Pakistani village of Saroki to see Amer Cheema's face, police and witnesses said. Mourners chanted "God is great!" and "We are slaves of Prophet Muhammad!" Some congratulated Cheema's father, kissing his hand and calling his son a martyr. German police say Cheema, 28, hanged himself in his Berlin...

The al-Qaeda terrorist network sent 12 of its militants to Denmark in order to assasinate those who drew the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, according to Hamid Mir, the journalist who interviewed Osama bin Laden shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks. According to an interview with the website of satellite television network al-Arabiya, Mir was brought to Waziristan, Pakistan's tribal area, in a zone believed to be run by the Taliban leader Abdullah Mahsud, where he met with some representatives of the Taliban. These sources told Mir that 12 members of al-Qaeda left Afghanistan and entered Iran with the...

Dear Viewer, Thank you for your correspondence regarding the "South Park" episodes entitled "Cartoon Wars." We appreciate your concerns about censorship and the destructive influence of outside groups on the media, entertainment industry and particularly Comedy Central. To reiterate, as satirists, we believe that it is our First Amendment right to poke fun at any and all people, groups, organizations and religions and we will continue to defend that right. Our goal is to make people laugh and perhaps, if we're lucky, even make them think in the process. Comedy Central's belief in the First Amendment has not wavered, despite...