Sweden pleads after Al-Qaeda death threats
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/500469-sweden-urges-calm-over-al-qaeda-death- threats?ln=en by Dylan <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]: Sweden pleads after Al-Qaeda death threats> Bowman and agencies on Monday, 17 September 2007 <javascript:;> Pakistani protesters shout anti-Swedish slogans during a protest in Lahore. (Getty Images) Pakistani protesters shout anti-Swedish slogans during a protest in Lahore. (Getty Images) The Swedish prime minister on Sunday appealed for calm after Al-Qaeda put a $150,000 bounty on the heads of two journalists and threatened to attack big Swedish companies following the publication of a cartoon depicting Islam's Prophet Mohammad as a dog. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt called for "reflection" in an effort to soothe growing international tensions over the cartoon's publication. "We are appealing for calm, we are appealing for reflection, we reject these calls to violence and we reject any attempts to aggravate the situation," Reinfeldt told Sweden's TT news agency, quoted newswire AFP. The prime minister underlined Sweden's commitment to freedom of speech and expression, a sentiment that has been echoing in Sweden's national media, which has given its support to the under fire journalists. "We live in a country where freedom of expression is not dictated by fundamentalists, nor by governments," Thorbjoern Larsson, chief editor of the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, wrote in an editorial, reported AFP. "Dagens Nyheter has already published the cartoon. To me, publishing it was the obvious thing to do." The Svenska Dagbladet daily added: "Freedom of expression is not a privilege for the media companies and journalists but a guarantee that citizens can have different impressions, numerous sources of information and inspiration as well as the possibility to draw their own conclusions," reported AFP. On Saturday the head of a group called the Islamic State of Iraq - Al-Qaeda in Iraq - offered $100,000 for the killing of Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks' for his depiction of the head of the Prophet Mohammad on the body of a dog. Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi also offered $50,000 to anyone who killed Ulf Johansson, the editor of the Nerikes Allehanda daily that published the drawing. Islam does not allow images of the Prophet Mohammad and Muslims consider dogs to be unclean. Nerikes Allehanda daily published the drawing, part of a series that art galleries in Sweden had declined to display. The situation is beginning to resemble the controversy last year over the publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoons some Muslims felt insulted the Prophet Mohammad. The publication sparked violent protests in the Muslim world and more than 50 people died across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
