Swedish Artist Protected After Prophet Muhammad Drawing Dies in Crash
R.I.P.
Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who lived under police protection after his sketch of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body brought death threats, died in a car crash Sunday. He was in a civilian police car when a truck slammed into it, local media reported. Though he was also well-known at home for a chaotic driftwood sculpture constructed on a nature reserve without permission, it was the 2007 sketch of the prophet that brought Vilks, 75, to international infamy. Most conservative Muslims believe that all visual depictions of the prophets of Islam—particularly Muhammad—should be prohibited, for fear they could encourage idolatry. More than one plot to kill Vilks had been unsuccessfully initiated in the last 13 years, especially after al Qaeda put out a bounty on his life. A pair of men tried to burn his house down in 2010; gunfire at an event he attended in 2015 left a film director dead and three police officers wounded; and a Pennsylvania extremist nicknamed “Jihad Jane” pleaded guilty to trying to orchestrate his murder last year. The cause of the Sunday crash is currently under investigation.