Jihadis calls for Charlie Hebdo style attack on American and Australian cartoonists (UPDATED)

If you’ve drawn the Prophet Muhammad, you might soon be targeted by Islamic Jihadis. Or at least that’s the conclusion ForeignPolicy.com reports after two Jihadi Twitter users called for a Charlie Hebdo style attack on cartoonists in the U.S. and Australia (subscription required). One of the Jihadis targeted a specific Aussie, Larry Pickering, who is not known for being shy about crossing most lines of taste. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Larry posted a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad roasting like a pig on a spit which prompted the police to offer him protection. The other Twitter Jihadi called attention to a Draw Muhammad contest in Texas with at $10k cash prize. The winner of that contest will be announced May 3rd in Dallas at an American Freedom Defense Initiative event.

It’s probably just a matter of time before there’s an attempt on a cartoonist’s life. We don’t have a publication on the same par as Charlie Hebdo, it doesn’t take much of a Google Image search to find instances of American cartoonists who have depicted the Prophet Muhammad. Back in 2010, Molly Norris proposed a “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day”. Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki issued a fatwa. Following the advice of the FBI, Molly changed her name and disappeared for the public.

Let’s just hope these two Twitter users are isolated and not influential.

UPDATE: Matt Bors is quick to post this cartoon on The Nib regarding this news story.

bors-jihadis-death-threats

Top