Mikael Davud and Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak have been found guilty of plotting to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten back in 2010. David Jakobsen, the third man arrested in connection with the plot was cleared of terror charges but still was convicted of helping to acquire explosives.
Prosecutors said the Norwegian cell first wanted to attack Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, whose 12 cartoons of Muhammad sparked furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006, and then changed plans to seek to murder one of the cartoonists instead.
Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd, said the paper and the cartoonist were indeed the targets, but described the plans as “just talk.”
Prosecutors had to prove the defendants worked together in a conspiracy, because a single individual plotting an attack is not covered under Norway’s anti-terror laws.
It’s stunning that the original story continues to be totally mis-reported.
The original appearance of the cartoons in Jyllands-Posten did NOT spark furious protests. It was only when Islamic clerics aggressively misrepresented the cartoons in Islamic countries and literally drummed up opposition that protests started.
As everyone knows by now, I hope.