Court orders Somali in custody for attacking cartoonist (Roundup)

Jan 2, 2010, 17:13 GMT

Copenhagen - A Danish court Saturday ordered a Somali-born man to be held in custody on suspicion of attempting to murder a Danish cartoonist at the centre of the 2005 controversy over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

The 74-year-old cartoonist alerted police late Friday when the man, armed with an axe and knife, stormed into his home, shouting that he was seeking 'revenge' and 'blood.'

The 28-year-old man was arrested after he was shot in the hand and knee when he threw an axe at a police officer and then threatened him with a knife.

The man's injuries were not life-threatening, and he was wheeled into court on a stretcher with his arm and leg in a cast.

The suspect was also charged with attempted murder of a police officer.

The court ruled he was to remain in custody until January 27 and the first two weeks he was to be kept in isolation.

The proceedings were held behind closed doors. Although denying the attempted murders, he admitted he had been at Kurt Westergaard's home near Arhus, western Denmark.

Westergaard sought refuge in a specially reinforced room during the attack, and told Danish media how he heard the assailant bashing at the door.

His five-year-old granddaughter also witnessed the attack but was not subjected to any physical harm.

Police on Saturday searched the suspect's apartment in a suburb of the Danish capital Copenhagen, the online edition of the Ekstra Bladet newspaper reported.

A search was also reported at a location in the city of Aalborg north of Arhus where the suspect also has ties, TV2/Nord reported.

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said Friday's incident was a terrorism-related attack.

According to the PET, the suspect has ties with the radical Islamist al-Shabaab militia and al-Qaeda in East Africa.

Several police units were dispatched to the property and the cartoonist was moved to another location.

Westergaard's controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban was one of 12 images published in September 2005 by Jyllands-Posten. The cartoons sparked outrage among Muslims and violent protests worldwide in early 2006.

Jakob Scharf, head of the PET, issued a statement saying the security police took the latest incident 'very seriously.'

In October, the US Justice Department said two people had been arrested and charged in Chicago in a plot to attack the Jyllands- Posten building and its employees.