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Crime

3 Men Acquitted in Muhammad Drawing Murder Plot

Sep. 24, 2012 8:27am Billy Hallowell

STOCKHOLM (TheBlaze/AP) — An appeals court has acquitted three men accused of plotting to murder a Swedish artist who had depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog.

Upholding a lower court’s ruling, the appeals court in Goteborg said Monday there was no conclusive evidence that the three men of Iraqi and Somali origin had planned to kill Lars Vilks in September last year.

3 Men Acquitted in Muhammad Drawing Murder Plot | Lars Vilks

A Sept. 11, 2012 photo from files showing Swedish artist Lars Vilks at the SIONs (Stop Islamization of Nations) International Freedom Defense Congress in New York. An appeals court in Gothenburg, Sweden, has acquitted three men accused of plotting to murder a Swedish artist who had depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog. (Photo Credit: AP Photo/Scanpix Sweden, Linus Sundahl-Djerf, File)

This ruling came despite the fact that the men were carrying knives when they were arrested after inquiring about Vilks at an art exhibition where he had been expected to appear but did not do so. TheLocal.se has more about the case:

The prosecutor appealed the district court’s acquittal of the men to the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden because she believed there was sufficient evidence for a conviction.

The three men were arrested along with a fourth man, no longer considered a suspect, by an elite counter-terrorism unit in Gothenburg.

The unit had evacuated hundreds of people from the Röda Sten gallery as it hosted a September art fair “after concluding that there was a threat that could endanger lives or health or cause serious damage”.

Artist Lars Vilks (Photo Credit: AP)

The court said the men may have been prepared to use violence against Vilks but found no concrete proof that they planned to kill him.

Vilks lives under police protection after his 2007 drawing led to death threats from militant Islamists. In February of this year, Vilks was egged by protesters while speaking at a university in Sweden — just one of the many examples of the issues he faces after publishing his controversial drawing.

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Related:

Video: Swedish Artist Egged During Lecture on Muhammad Cartoons & Free Speech

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Comments (30)

Rufus.Cornpone
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 10:22am
I’m going to make some art using a sausage link, sausage patties and bacon, I will construct the anatomical likeness of Mohammed in the nude…(guess where the sausage link goes) in a glass case filled with wild hog piss and call it PISSLAM…

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BlessedONE333
Posted on September 25, 2012 at 2:10am
oh this looks familiar, crazy muslims threaten someone and unless there is a dead body, the authorities just let it go….

no justice on the earth anymore, sadly

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louie louie
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 5:37pm
So what were the Muslims doing at the art exhibit if they weren’t plotting to kill Vilks? They wanted to see Vilks art? The verdict defies reason.

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Mr.Fitnah
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 2:46pm
Stabbing someone in the shirt isn’t enough evidence of attempted murder either.

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- sillyfreshness
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 2:52pm
  Muslims know the West is weak from all its political correctness. Sweden, which used to be Vikings,-the most feared marauders of all of Europe are now a bunch of politically correct pansies. Those Middle Eastern Muslims that used to fear Vikings now look and see their descendents running around in speedos and carrying man purses. They see that and say “time to invade Europe.” The West is finished and it’s all due to PC Bolshevism. Example here, find the Muslim perps not guilty of attempted murder so as not to offend Islam.
  
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- Mr.Fitnah
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 4:39pm
  Sweden is officially a Dhimmie state ,Im betting every muslim gets extra cash ( jizya ) every month from the state.
  
  Report this comment
brucevbracken
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 11:25am
Vilks ought to be ahsamed of insulting…dogs.

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- amazingphotos
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 12:18pm
  Dogs are superior to muslimes. Dogs are friendly and cartoon drawings do not incite them to violence.
  
  Report this comment
- Larry E
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 2:52pm
  Got to agree. Most dogs have more class and better manners than members of that murderous cult, and will only attack in defense of themselves or one of their people.
  
  Report this comment
ApostolicIlx
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:04am
so when all 9Million Swedes have been killed by Muslim Terrorists,,,oh wait, that’s right. If they had convicted them they would have received 5 years in a room with TV, Internet, 3x day food. It was less expensive to let them go. Good call Sweden.

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- Sirfoldallot
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:36am
  They may have told the judge & juries they will killed 2.
  
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Big Media Bias
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:02am
The courts side with the terrorists…. STOCKHOLM SYNDROME. Geographically and Literally! Ha!

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Steve28
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:51am
Are you kidding me? They brought knives to an art exhibit. Do you really feel they meant no harm and that stabbing someone repeatedly cannot cause daeth in a short period of time? Are these people that stupid or just cowards?

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Depressed_American
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:27am
The WEST needs to wake the heck up!!!

The Middle East is diligently working on taking away our FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!! And OUR governments are bowing, groveling, and doing EVERYTHING it can to kiss their behinds!!!

STOP BUYING THEIR OIL, and see what happens???? We are the slaves to our Middle Eastern Masters……..

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- woodyee
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:34am
  The DemonicRats don’t need Middle Eastern uprisings to threaten our freedoms, let alone speech. Pelosi, Clinton, Schumer and Reid have been calling for limits on political speech for a few years. Their Middle Eastern friends are just keeping the topic alive for them.
  
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RightThinking1
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:22am
Meanwhile, the same Swedes are prosecuting Christians opposed to homosexuality for perpetrating ‘Hate Crimes’. Christian minister prosecuted for preaching against homosexuality:
http://www.christianity.com/blogs/mohler/1277601/print/

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term limits for congress
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:21am
Sweden: Certified Sharia Compliant. Congratulations!

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acovenantinblood
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:08am
So long Europe. See you as a state in the Caliphate.

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SamIamTwo
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:07am
Embolden them, eh? Nice.

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woodyee
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:59am
Bush (and the men who payed with their lives) learned the hard way that you can’t be releasing Muslim terrorists. Gaybama hasn’t learned a thing about much from anyone (except marxists), and our boys and Ambassadors continue to pay their lives because we continue to release known terrorists from Gitmo.

JOHN Philip WALKER LINDH, aka Sulayman al-Farisan aka Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi, American Traitor who was spared a life sentence because he claimed to have repented ever being a member of the Taliban, continues to speak out against our Country from jail, as a muslim, and will shortly be released into our midst, with the blessings of the pseudo-American media.

No doubt Vilks will soon be murdered, and as long as our politicians continue mimicking the European fools, we will not be safe. We must refuse further erosion of our Rights and INSIST on common sense in dealing with terrorists. Common sense saved us in WW2, common sense was victorious in the Cold War, and common sense can get us out of the messes we are in, with or without the consent of the media.

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DEMOCRATS.ARE.EVIL
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:51am
And liberals around the world cheer wildly! Death to the successful! Embrace death, destruction and failure!

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GotzvB
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:39am
And yet again, the religion of peace and tolerance exhibits it’s positive influence on the modern world.

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yolina
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:37am
When they kill him then they will be sure they have all conclusive evidence that the three men of Iraqi and Somali origin had planned to kill Lars Vilks .
What a joke , the whole system is so corrupt and PC.
Soon the Caliphate will resurrect and the idiots will cry foul.
God help us all

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- Edohiguma
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:49am
  This is what it boils down to. People like Vilks, Wilders and Winter apparently have to be murdered before there is “sufficient evidence” that some people want to kill them.
  
  This goes hand in hand with the utterly ridiculous joke of a “justice system” European countries have these days. A few years back a mohammedan assaulted and stabbed a Rabbi in Germany. The attacker didn’t go to jail, instead the judge declared that those stabs were “warning stabs”. And this slap in the face of the law abiding citizen happens every day in courts across the EU.
  
  Another case from Germany: an old man was attacked by several mohammedan youths in his home. They tied him up, robbed him and threatened to kill him. When they finally left he managed to free himself, get a gun and shoot one of them. For the media the bad guy is the old man. The family of the “poor, innocent victim” (aka the little wannabe gang-banging terrorist who got wasted) has camped out near the house of the old man, clearly trying to intimidate him. The police… does nothing. Why? Because the police has been castrated. The officers would love to do something about this, but they can’t. The upper echelon and the so called leaders in politics have completely abandoned the law abiding citizen and the law enforcement.
  
  Europe will reach a point where we will see actual neighborhood vigilante groups carrying weapons. It has already started in Italy and with the spread of the basic idea of the EDL across Europe.
  
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progressiveslayer
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:36am
The man draws a cartoon of their pedophile god and gets a death sentence from islamists lunatics.
The more we and other nations kiss their ass the more death sentences they’ll issue,I wonder if Barry has apologized to the **** bags for all inconvenience.

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Chromo200
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:34am
welcome to free speech muslim style.

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- jimbo_from_suwanee
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:48am
  The president really needs to step up the apologies or this situation is going to get out of the control.
  
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Morgue
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:34am
Taken on it’s face, simply the act of carrying a knife and asking about someone doesn’t mean you’re planning to kill them. However, you have to ignore all the acts of Muslim terrorism/violence/assassination to accept that.

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- barber2
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:41am
  Like NBPP members carrying night sticks at the polls ??
  
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- Edohiguma
  Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:50am
  Reverse it. What if a white guy would do the same?
  
  He’d be in jail faster than he could say “islam sucks”
  
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