More on the Arson Attack Against Lars Vilks

Here’s a more detailed account of last night’s arson attack on Lars Vilks’ house, from the Montreal Gazette.

Note: the newspaper article below refers to the first publication of a Modoggie in the MSM, by Nerikes Allehanda. A scan of the newspaper article showing the offending image may be seen at right.

This momentous event occurred on August 22, 2007, a month after Mr. Vilks’ earliest Modoggies were hastily removed from an art exhibit in Sweden in order to avoid causing offense to Muslims. The artist, of course, responded to this attempted suppression by drawing more Rondellhundar and other provocative images. Further controversy ensued as a result.

After six months or so the crisis faded out and lay dormant until early this year, when the plot against Lars Vilks’ life was uncovered, and several perpetrators, including “Jihad Jane”, were arrested. The incident catapulted Mr. Vilks back into the limelight, and also put him in the crosshairs of every Islamic zealot on the planet.

That’s the background for last night’s attempt to burn down the house of the Modoggie Man:

Arson Attack on House of Swede Who Caricatured Mohammed

STOCKHOLM, May 15, 2010 (AFP) — The house of Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who sparked controversy by drawing the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, was targeted in an arson attack overnight, police said Saturday.

“The damage is rather minor, part of the front is blackened and some windows were broken,” Scanie district police spokeswoman Sofie Oesterheim told AFP. “The fire went out by itself.”

Police found glass bottles containing petrol inside the house which was empty at the time of the attack.

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The arson attack comes days after he was beaten while giving a lecture at Uppsala university.

In 2007, Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda published Vilks’ satirical cartoon to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.

The cartoon prompted protests by Muslims in the town of Oerebro, west of Stockholm, where the newspaper is based, while Egypt, Iran and Pakistan made formal complaints.

An Al-Qaeda front organisation then offered 100,000 dollars to anyone who murdered Vilks — with an extra 50,000 if his throat was slit — and 50,000 dollars for the death of Nerikes Allehanda editor-in-chief Ulf Johansson.

Four men and three women, all Muslims originally from Morocco and Yemen, were arrested in southern Ireland in March over an alleged plot to assassinate him.

For previous posts on Lars Vilks and the Roundabout Dogs, see the Modoggie Archives.

Hat tip: Vlad Tepes.