Three Norwegians accused of plotting, with al-Qaida's help, to bomb a Danish newspaper for printing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, have pleaded not guilty to the charges in an Oslo court.
The alleged ringleader, Mikael Davud, learned how to use explosives at an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan and made "an agreement" with [the] group to blow up the offices of the daily Jyllands-Posten newspaper, prosecutor Geir Evanger said on the first day of the trial.
The three acquired bomb-making ingredients such as hydrogen peroxide and acetone, and two of them may also have planned to kill a Danish cartoonist who had drawn Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, Evanger said in his opening statement.
"This is a ground-breaking case in Norway," Davud's lawyer, Arild Karl Humlen, said. "It is the first full-scale test of new [Norwegian] terror laws and the first time they [the prosecutors] are linking a terror conspiracy to an international organisation."
Jyllands-Posten was the first of several European publications to print cartoons lampooning the prophet in late 2005 and early 2006, sparking violent protests in the Middle East and Africa and a widespread debate about press freedom.
As recently as 2 November a firebomb attack gutted the headquarters of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo after it put an image of the prophet on its cover. » | Reuters | Tuesday, November 15, 2011
