Swedish PM, media rally behind journalists facing death threats

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2007

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Sweden's prime minister on Sunday appealed for calm following an Al-Qaeda death warrant on two journalists for a cartoon portraying the Prophet Mohammed as a dog and threats to attack top Swedish firms.

Cartoonist Lars Vilks said he could die any time as he was getting old after Al-Qaeda extremists in Iraq offered up to 150,000 dollars (100,000 euros) to anyone who slit his throat and also to kill journalist Ulf Johansson for publishing the caricature.

"We must not give in," Vilks was quoted as saying in the Dagens Nyheter daily which republished the cartoon in small format on Sunday.

"I'm starting to grow old. I could die at any time -- it's not a catastrophe," he said.

Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Sunday sought to...