Lars Vilks Has a Price on His Head

Update: Magnus posted this in the comments:

Please sign the petition in support of Lars Vilks, free speech, and in condemnation of Islamic terror.



A ModoggieLars Vilks and Ulf Johansson have joined the illustrious ranks of infidels such as Kurt Westergaard and Theo Van Gogh, as well as vile apostates like Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali: there’s a price on their heads.

An Islamic bounty on Mr. Vilks and the editor of Nerikes Allehanda has been announced in punishment for the publication of a Modoggie.

According to this AP story, Al Qaeda in Iraq is offering big money in return for the murder of the two men:

Al-Qaida: Bounty on Swedish cartoonist

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq offered money for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist and his editor who recently produced images deemed insulting to Islam, according to a statement 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 named the other insurgent groups in Iraq that al-Qaida was fighting and promised new attacks, 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 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 if he was “slaughtered like a lamb” and offered $50,000 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.

I don’t know what “slaughtered like a lamb” refers to here — perhaps the bonus is for cutting Mr. Vilks’ throat.

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.”

I’ll agree with part of that: we can only hope.
– – – – – – – –

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.

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 protests that erupted in several Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons of Muhammad that were reprinted in a range of Western media.

Reaction to the Modoggies has been “muted” because the ball is only just beginning to roll. If you recall, the Motoons were published on September 30, 2005, but it wasn’t until January 2006 that Muslim mobs began burning things and killing each other. The first Modoggie didn’t hit the MSM until August 22nd, less than a month ago.

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

That’s the big question: will Sweden stand firm, as Denmark did? Or will its government officials kneel before the Hosts of Mohammed and say how really, truly sorry they are?

“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.

As pointed out before, that strategy failed miserably with Denmark, and it will fail with Sweden, too. Swedish readers are invited to start listing Swedish products appropriate for purchase by Counterjihad sympathizers. Personally, I prefer edible delicacies or adult beverages…

Update: The Local has additional information:

Responding to the threat on his life, the caricaturist was characteristically defiant.

“I suppose this makes my art project a bit more serious. It’s also good to know how much one is worth,” said Vilks.

But he also added that he was taking the threat seriously.

“Of course you can’t just brush off an organization like this. I’m not that irreverent. I’ll have to look over my shoulder when crossing the street,” he said.

Having already received a number of threats via e-mail and over the telephone, Ulf Johansson has also been on his guard since the publication of the controversial cartoon.

“The police have already contacted me and I’m going to stay in touch with them. I have received various types of threat but none have been so explicit. This is a direct death sentence,” said the editor.

Further Update: CG sends along this translation from the Swedish, quoting Lars Vilks’ further reaction:

Jaså, inte mer än 100.000 dollar, jag trodde det var 200.000. Det är trevligt att veta vad man är värd.

Translated:

“Yes well, no more than 100,000 dollars, I thought it was 200,000. It is nice to know what you are worth.”

Isnt that just a nice salute…? I like this guy, even though he is a leftist…



Hat tips: RF (for the AP) and CG (for the Local).

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

25 thoughts on “Lars Vilks Has a Price on His Head

  1. Let us ,with enthusiasm , form the Lars Vilks protection brigade . Suggested motto ” you touch Lars ,we touch 10,000 of you “.
    This ,once again , demonstrates just how reasonable the followers of the ” religion of peace ” are . I have never known of any other society that is so linked to destruction , they seem incapable of making or creating things , but damn good at burning ,pillaging and rape . Very good at destroying ever thing thing in sight , even when what they destroy is useful to them .

  2. I’ve heard Muslims say that they literary feel sic when they see degrading pictures of the prophet. I realize that it is hard for a non believer, and in my case an atheist, to understand those feelings, but one thing puzzles me. If it is so painful, why do they inform their fellow-believers in far away countries? Shouldn’t they try to spare them the pain? And why does no one in media ask that simple question?

  3. Wipe your asses with Koran leaves and unsteed of flushing them let them go with the wind near mosques or muslim neighbourrhood.
    I am curious what a muslim do in seeing that.

  4. Omar al-Baghdadi’s desire that Lars Vilks be “slaughtered like a lamb” and his offer of extra bounty for the same constitute an exhortation to Muslims to slit his throat while speaking the name of Allah, as sheep are slaughtered for Eid al-Adha, the “Festival of Sacrifice” with which Ramadan concludes. There is ample precedence for human sacrifice of this sort: it was also carried out during the massacre of Armenians in Urfa in 1895, as Lord Kinross noted in “The Ottoman Centuries”:

    “When a large group of Armenians were brought before a sheikh, he had them thrown down on their backs and held by their hands and feet. Then, in the words of an observer, he recited verses of the Koran and ‘cut their throats after the Mecca rite of sacrificing sheep.’”

    With Ramadan now under way, Eid al-Adha isn’t far off. Lars Vilks would do well to arm himself, for these savages are in deadly earnest.

  5. I always wondered, if it’s such a duty for a Muslim to cut off the head of an infidel who’s insulted Islam, why aren’t they lining up to do the honors so they can get their 76 raisins in Heaven or what ever it is their promised.

    Indeed, why aren’t the Imams and other leaders the first to draw their swords in pursuit of eternity? But noooo, they have to put out a contract like any two-bit New Jersey mobster. Allah forbid they should run any psychical risk.

  6. Mikael, what do you expect? These guys are only brave enough to attack unarmed, innocent civilians and murder them with hidden bombs. That’s their kind of “bravery”. This “offer” is just typical for them, no balls to back up their BS themselves.

    76 raisins? Hmm I think it was 72 virgins or something like that. But now tell me… why would I spend my time in heaven with 72 virgins? Dear merciful penguins, that’d be worse than junior high school! 72 virgins locked in a room… yuck! If that’s “heaven”, I rather go to hell…

  7. Swedish TV4 at 22:00 just had an update. Swedish polis are calling in extra staff to evaluate the threat against Lars Vilks. Polis are more concerned about the average wacko who might want to take advantage of the bounty.

    Lars Vilks, who is currently abroad and not home in Sweden on a quick phone interview with TV reporters said 100,000.00 grand for his head does not seem right he says twice might be better. Asked if he was the least bit worried, he stated that yes he was worried but does not feel as if he has done anything wrong.

    IMHO the Swedish media seem to be rallying around Lars Vilks, he has been on many programs since the first News Paper publishing of the Mohammad Rondellhund drawing.

    A spokes woman for the Swedish Muslim Council said that the death threats came at the worst time, she was applied that the death threats came during Ramadan. The Swedish Muslim Council officially condemns the death threat against Lars Vilks.

  8. “The Swedish Muslim Council officially condemns the death threat against Lars Vilks.”.

    Unofficially, of course, they’re less understanding. He did insult the prophet, after all. So they’ll just condemn it and wait for the real muslims to solve the problem.

  9. There are four things he should do when he gets back change the locks on his door, get two Doberman pinchers buy a Kevlar vest and a gun. The death of Theo van Gogh was a shock to very many people here in Holland. It was impossible for most of the easy going Dutch to understand how a decent person could be butchered in such a gruesome way, in broad daylight and most are in denial still. If you are not a politician here in Holland you have to pay for your own protection, and it is well out of the reach of any normal person. What I would like to see as an interim measure is that any one receiving death threats from whom so ever, gets a free course on personal protection, is issued a permit to carry a gun and instruction on how to use it, also allowed to carry pepper spray. Laws should also be implemented making it punishable with a sentence of no less than twenty years with no remission for issuing death threats. Life sentences and I mean life sentences for people attempting to carry them out. Freedom of expression is so important to the well being and future of our society. No free society can function properly if it is curbed by a set of dark age thugs using fear as a weapon, to brow beat people into silence.

    Fear is a potent weapon, people keep asking why are there not moderate muslims standing up to be counted and the usual answer is that there are no moderate muslims because the way the Koran is constructed makes that impossible. The real answer might just be fear. I could rephrase the question why were there no moderate Christians when the inquisition was at its height? The answer would be the same, fear of the fundamentalists, with there God given right to barbecue you.

    Our Short sighted politicians forget this at there peril.

  10. The death of Theo van Gogh was a shock to very many people here in Holland. It was impossible for most of the easy going Dutch to understand how a decent person could be butchered in such a gruesome way

    Now perhaps you know what it feels like to be a Jew for the past 20 centuries.

    Welcome to the Tribe.

  11. Baron,
    Swedish readers are invited to start listing Swedish products appropriate for purchase by Counterjihad sympathizers.

    I’ve been thinking around this for a while and concluded that I do not think it’s a good effort. First of all Sweden doesn’t deserve it, of course. But more importantly, I’m not sure that the Swedes would be able to take this kind of help well. Quite as some SIOE people couldn’t take the help from Vlaams Belang well (to make a parallel you will all recognize).

    Sweden is in a state of awakening, not in a state of fighting. It’s not until Sweden herself perceive it as being in a state of fighting, that foreign support by buying Swedish products would be applicable.

    Sweden is in a fragile stage of awakening. Lars Vilks has catalyzed a process making Sweden catch up to where Denmark was 8-10 years ago. Better not to disturb this process right now. And there is a huge point, both in Sweden and internationally, in how Sweden is disconnected from the war in Iraq, anti-Jihadism, support for Israel, etc., but still get the same Islamic treatment!

    For now I think we should leave Sweden in isolation for this. Leave for Lars Vilks do decide what is going to be part of the art project.

  12. Dear Eris,
    I know what it feels like, a good neighbour of ours spelt it out to me in words of one sylable over 40 years ago. He was in the medical unit that entered Belsen Bergen. He spent three months cleaning up there. I couldn’t believe people could be so cruel, so I went out and Bought The Scourge of the Swastika by lord Russel of Liverpool, it is still on my Book shelf and I can assure you it is well read. It is still a good read along with his Knights of Bushido if they are still in print. I can thoroughly recommend them too you.

    Deep Regards

  13. A new March for Free Expression could be a good idea though, this time in support of Lars Vilks and Nerikes Allehanda.

    This time the organizers shouldn’t go wobbly though. Last time, in support of the Danes, the organizers set up the policy “Muslims are Welcome: No Danish cartoons, please”. Very self-deafening indeed.

    Luckily enough, there are people who ignore bad organizer policies: photos here.

    Also, never again invite an anti-American communist as the main speaker: Maryam Namazie (see photos above).

  14. It should have said self-defeating, but I guess self-deafening works too 🙂

    Furthermore, comparing with this it gives us perspective of how successful the 9/11 Brussels demo was in all sorts of ways.

  15. Muslims Against Sharia praise the courage of Lars Vilks, Ulf Johansson, Thorbjorn Larsson and the staff of Nerikes Allehanda and Dagens Nyheter and condemn threats issued by Abu Omar Al Baghdadi and the Islamic State of Iraq. Muslims Against Sharia will provide a payment of 100,000kr (about $15,000) for the information leading to capture or neutralization of Abu Omar Al Baghdadi.

    Muslimer mot Sharia berömmer Lars Vilks, Ulf Johansson, Torbjörn Larsson och övriga anställda på Nerikes Allehanda och Dagens Nyheter för deras tapperhet och fördömer hotet från Abu Omar Al Baghdadi och Islamistiska Iraq. Muslimer mot Sharia betalar 100 000 SEK (ca 15 000$) för information som leder till gripande eller oskadligörande av Abu Omar Al Baghdadi.

    Muslims Against Sharia

    Defend Freedom of Speech – Support Sweden!

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