Bounty offered for murder of Swedish cartoonist

CAIRO, Egypt: The putative leader of al-Qaida in Iraq put a bounty on the head Swedish cartoonist and his editor who recently produced images deemed insulting to Islam, according to a speech carried by Islamist Web sites Saturday.

In a half hour audio file entitled “They plotted yet God too was plotting,” Abu Omar al-Baghdadi also promised new attacks in Iraq during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, particularly against the minority Yazidi sect.

“We are calling for the assassination of cartoonist Lars Vilks who dared insult our Prophet, peace be upon him, and we announce a reward during this generous month of Ramadan of $100,000 (€72,000) for the one who kills this criminal,” the transcript on the Web site said.

The al-Qaida leader upped the reward for Vilks’ death to $150,000 (€108,000) if he was “slaughtered like a lamb” and offered $50,000 (€36,000) for the killing of the editor of Nerikes Allehanda, the Swedish paper that printed Vilks’ cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body on Aug. 19.

What Muslims Should Be Outraged Over:

Our view: Europeans – and indeed free people everywhere – should stand up against the Islamic oppression. Europe is not Islamic, and Europe should not sacrifice its culture to a people who – in the name of Islam – use any and every opportunity to stage violent protests, issue death threaths, destroy property, murder, and commit other acts of terrorism.

Vilks said from Sweden he believed the matter of his cartoons had been blown out of proportion.

“We have a real problem here,” Vilks told The Associated Press by telephone. “We can only hope that Muslims in Europe and in the Western world choose to distance themselves from this and support the idea of freedom of expression.”

Ulf Johansson, editor in chief of Nerikes Allehanda, said he took the bounty “more seriously” than other threats he had received. “This is more explicit. It’s not every day somebody puts a price on your head.”

Johansson said he had contacted the police and that they had already started work on the threat.

Swedish police said it had called in extra staffers to monitor the situation.

“We’re doing this to be able follow it in real time. We still haven’t made any judgments on the credibility of this Web site,” spokesman Jacob Larsson, said without revealing how many people were involved in the case.

Aside from a few scattered protests and condemnations by Muslim countries, the reaction to the cartoon has been muted, in contrast to last year’s fiery demonstrations that erupted in several Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons of Muhammad that were widely seen in the Islamic world as insulting.

In an attempt to defuse the tensions caused by the cartoon in both Sweden and abroad, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt last week invited 22 Sweden-based ambassadors from Muslim countries to talk about the sketch.

Reinfeldt expressed regret at the hurt it may have caused, but said that according to Swedish law it is not up to politicians to punish the free press.

Al-Baghdadi added in his message that if the “crusader state of Sweden” didn’t apologize, his organization would also attack major companies.

“We know how to force you to retreat and apologize and if you don’t, wait for us to strike the economy of your giant companies including Ericsson, Scania, Volvo, Ikea, and Electrolux,” he said.

No photo has ever appeared of al-Baghdadi, whom the U.S. describes as a fictitious character used to give an Iraqi face to an organization dominated by foreigners.

The U.S. has said that under interrogation, a top al-Qaida member revealed that al-Baghdadi’s speeches are read by an actor.

Al-Qaida in Iraq in the past has carried out operations in Jordan and may have links to militant groups in Lebanon, but is not known to have any kind of presence in Europe.

Associated Press Writer Louise Nordstrom contributed to this report from Stockholm, Sweden.

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