Muhammad’s Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks killed in traffic accident – The HuffPost

Lehtikuva Lehtikuva / Reuters

SWEDEN – Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, target of an attack in Copenhagen in 2015 and who lived under protection after drawing Muhammad with a dog’s body in 2007, was killed in a road accident this Sunday, October 3 in Sweden with the two policemen responsible for protecting him.

Swedish police have confirmed to AFP the death of the 75-year-old cartoonist and the two police officers in a violent accident in the south of the country.

She ruled out the hypothesis of a malicious act.

“It is investigated like any traffic accident. As two police officers are involved, an investigation was also entrusted to a particular section of the prosecution, ”a spokesman for the local police told AFP.

Asked about possible elements suggesting a track other than accidental, the latter replied that no. “The investigation would be oriented differently if that had been the case,” he said.

The accident occurred Sunday afternoon on the E4 motorway near the town of Markaryd when the car hit a truck traveling in the opposite direction. The two vehicles then caught fire “as a result of the collision”.

A heavy weight hit at very high speed

According to the daily Expressen, the unmarked police car, which was traveling very fast, crossed a crash barrier for an as yet undetermined reason before hitting the truck. The truck driver was hospitalized, police said.

“That the person we were protecting and two colleagues have died in this tragedy is inconceivable and terribly sad,” said Carina Persson, regional police chief.

After his drawing of Muhammad as a dog, which followed Danish cartoons of the prophet published in 2005, Lars Vilks lived under protection almost uninterrupted, due to numerous threats and attacks from Islamists.

On February 14, 2015, a young Danish man of Palestinian origin opened fire when he tried to break into a debate on freedom of expression in Copenhagen, organized after the deadly attack on Charlie hebdo in Paris.

Lars Vilks, who was headlining the meeting with the French ambassador, escaped unscathed, but a 55-year-old Danish director was killed by the assailant, who later that evening shot dead a keeper of the synagogue in Copenhagen. He had been killed the next morning during a face-to-face meeting with Danish police.

See also on The HuffPost: When François Hollande defended the cartoons of Muhammad