Irish police: Suspects planned to murder man who drew Muhammad with dog's body.
By ASSOCIATED PRESSmuhammad cartoon protest 248 ap(photo credit: )
DUBLIN - Police in Ireland on Tuesday arrested seven people over an alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.Irish police said four men and three women were detained in raids across the south of the country. The force says the arrests were part of an investigation into a "conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction."Police said the suspects were aged from their mid-20s to their late 40s. It did not identify their nationality.The investigation involved law enforcement agencies in the US and several European countries.Al-Qaida in Iraq put a $100,000 bounty on Vilks' head after a Swedish newspaper ran his picture of Muhammad's head on a dog's body in 2007. He was put under police protection and moved to a secret location in Sweden.Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.Vilks is not the first cartoonist to have received death threats for drawings of the prophet.Kurt Westergaard, a Danish cartoonist who in 2005 depicted Muhammadwearing a bomb-shaped turban, also received death threats. In January,a Somali man was arrested after breaking into his home in westernDenmark armed with an ax.
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