Although the news of a plot to kill a cartoonist who drew a lampooning caricature of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) immediately made headlines, little attention was given to the fact they would soon be freed for lack of evidence.
Denmark's intelligence agency PET arrested on Tuesday, February 12, two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin in the city of Aarhus.
They are accused of plotting to kill Kurt Westergaard, who drew a man described as Prophet Muhammad with a turban that looked like a bomb with a lit fuse.
The drawing, one of twelve commissioned and published by the mass-circulation Jyllands-Posten in 2005, triggered a storm of protests across the Muslim world and strained ties with Muslim countries.
Although the arrests were make after "after lengthy surveillance," PET chief Jakob Scharf admitted they would soon release the Dane and deport the Tunisians over lack of enough evidence to keep them in custody.
He justified that by saying they had to intervene "at a very early phase" because they "didn't want to take any unnecessary risks."
"The Tunisians have been in Denmark for eight years and are married to Danish Muslim women with children," Nidal Abu Arif, editor-in-chief of the Arabic-language Akhbar Denmark website (Akhbar.Dk) told IslamOnline.net over the phone from Copenhagen.
He said the pair will be expelled without court proceedings under the 2002 anti-terror law, which gives police powers to arrest and expel foreigners on suspicion.
But the government's announcement did not set well with many Danish Muslims.
"I think it is all fabricated," Munir Bin Ali, a young Danish Muslim from Aarhus, told Akhbar.Dk.
"It is the easiest thing in Denmark nowadays to concoct charges against Muslims. The charges are always there."
Frenzy
Rasmussen said he was "deeply concerned by these suspicions of a very serious crime."
The plot news made immediate headlines, not only in Denmark but overseas as well, and sparked a frantic reaction from Danes of every stripe.
Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed deep concerns saying this "demonstrates that there are extremist groups in Denmark that do not recognize or respect the basic principles of society."
"In Denmark, we are free not only to think and speak as we please, but also to draw what we want. And the government will protect this freedom of expression," said in reminiscent tone of his stance during the cartoon crisis.
The Liberal Party added its condemnation.
"An attack against a Danish cartoonist is an attack against Danish democracy," the party's spokeswoman Inger Stoejberg said in a statement.
Jyllands-Posten chief editor Carsten Juste said it was "shameful that a man who is doing his job well and in accordance with Danish law and press ethics is rewarded with demonization and concrete murder threats."
Some newspapers reportedly plan to re-print the offensive cartoon on Wednesday, February 13, in a show of solidarity.
Even Muslim leaders were quick to distance themselves from the "plot" with a torrent of statements and condemnations.
"There is freedom of expression in Denmark…and it doesn't help our cause when some people want to seek out their own form of justice," Kassem Ahmad, the head of the Islamic Community, said in a statement.
"It is very alarming indeed and of course we condemn strongly any one violating Danish laws," Sheikh Radwan Mansour, the imam of a mosque in Aarhus, told Akhbar.Dk.
"But I call on politicians and media outlets not to level impromptu charges before law takes its course to figure out whether these youths were victims of victimizers."
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/S...News/NWELayout
no one was planning to kill anyone, end of story.