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Websites run by militant Islamists have listed the names of over 100 Swedish companies as possible targets in the ongoing row surrounding the publication in Swedish newspapers of a caricature of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Detailing the addresses, maps and logos of Swedish businesses, the websites called for their readers to boycott these firms and "take revenge" on Sweden for the publication of a controversial cartoon by artist Las Vilks. SAS, H&M, Alfa Laval, TV 4 and Arla were among the companies listed, according to SVT news programme Rapport, which based its report on a study carried out by the...

(Sweden:) ”Nerikes Allehanda”, the local newspaper that published a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, has been given support by the World Association of Newspapers. More than 18,000 newspapers around the world are members of the organistation, which says in a statement that it condemns the death threats made against artist Lars Vilks and the Editor-in-Chief of Nerikes Allehanda Ulf Johansson. The W.A.N says it understands that the publication may have caused offence to Muslims, but adds that the newspaper enjoys full freedom of expression and can print what it likes.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Swedish artist Lars Vilks, under a death threat from al-Qaida over his drawing of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, said Monday that police have increased his security and will not allow him to live in his home. Vilks, who was whisked away by police when he returned to Sweden from Germany on Sunday, said he was currently staying at a secret address after security police described the threats against him as ``very serious." "Police guard was nonexistent before this. It's 100 per cent now," he said in a telephone interview. "I can't live in my home, I've only been...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - A Swedish cartoonist who depicted Islam's Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog said Monday that police have taken him to a secret location and told him he cannot return home following a death threat from al-Qaida in Iraq. Lars Vilks, who was whisked away by police when he returned to Sweden from Germany on Sunday, said police have described the threats against him as "very serious." "Police guard was nonexistent before this. It's 100 percent now," he said in a telephone interview. "I can't live in my home, I've only been allowed to pick...

The Swedish media and the Prime Minister rallied Sunday behind a cartoonist whose depiction of the Islamic prophet as a dog earned him death threats from Al-Qaeda in Iraq, as Swedish companies braced for a backlash. Cartoonist Lars Vilks said he was ready to die after extremists in Iraq offered $150,000 to anyone who slit his throat or $100,000 for his murder by other means. Related Articles Vilks to get police protection 16th September 2007 Ericsson takes down flags in Iraq 16th September 2007 Al-Qaeda puts bounties on heads of Swedes 15th September 2007 Article Options Send to a friend...

Sweden's Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, has met ambassadors from 22 Muslim countries in an effort to defuse a row about a Prophet Muhammad cartoon. The cartoon, published in a Swedish newspaper last month, showed Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog's body. Several Muslim countries protested.

The artist behind the controversial caricature of the Muslim prophet Muhammad published in Nerikes Allehanda, Lars Vilks, claims to have begun receiving death threats. Vilks says he is planning to report the matter to the police after a slew of threats arrived over the last 24 hour. "There have been a lot of threats. A variety of death threats have come through via telephone, e-mail and in the comment section in my blog," Vilks told TV4. Despite the death threats, the artist says that he has no regrets about drawing the pictures of Muhammad as a dog.

Marking the beginning of yet another dispute over free speech and religious sensitivity, the government of Pakistan has joined Iran in protesting the publication in a Swedish newspaper of a sketch featuring the head of Mohammed on the body of a dog. "Pakistan condemns, in the strongest terms, the publication of an offensive and blasphemous sketch of the Holy Prophet in the Swedish newspaper," the foreign ministry in Islamabad said in a statement Thursday. A Swedish diplomat was summoned to the ministry and "was told that the publication of the sketch had caused grave affront to the religious sentiments of...