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.
