Dutch Cartoonist Arrested, Released for Anti-Muslim Drawings
A row of pencils
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: "The pen(cil) is
mightier than the sword,"
said British playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton
A Dutch Internet cartoonist was arrested and then released again on
suspicion of publi****ng
work that is discriminatory against Muslims and people of color, Amsterdam
police disclosed on
Friday, May 16.
A police spokesman said authorities searched the cartoonist's home, that
the arrest took place
Wednesday, and the artist was released a day later.
The spokesman could not confirm whether the cartoonist, who goes by the
artistic name Gregorius
Nekschot -- Dutch for "shot in the neck" -- would be charged by the public
prosecutor.
"He was arrested with a great show of force, by around 10 policemen," a
spokeswoman for
publisher Uitgeverij Xtra told the Associated Press on Friday. She asked
that her name not be
used because the cartoonist and publisher have received death threats.
Nekschot is known primarily for cartoons mocking Muslims and leftists,
though the spokeswoman
said he is a satirist who targets "any strong ideology."
The arrest follows an investigation by the public prosecutor after Imam
Abdul Jabbar van de
Ven, a well-known Dutch convert to Islam, filed a complaint about
Nekschot's cartoons in 2005.
Nekschot's work is primarily published on the Internet. His Web site
divides his work over more
than 10 categories, including "science" and "modern life." Most of
Nekschot's cartoons feature
Muslims and people of color.
Racial and religious tension has been high in the Netherlands since a
Dutch newspaper published
12 cartoons depicting the Muslim Prophet Mohammed in September 2005. The
publication and
subsequent republication sparked demonstrations and riots in several
countries.
DW staff (kjb)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3340581,00.html
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com
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