Swedish cartoonist artist Lars Vilks, who depicted the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog, in 2007, since he had be living under police protection, was killed aged 75 in a car crash near the southern town of Markaryd on Sunday. He was traveling in a police vehicle which collided with a truck. Two police officers were also killed. The driver of the truck was injured and taken to hospital, where he was questioned by investigators. One eyewitness told media that the car Vilks was thought to be in seemed to lose control and came over to his side of the motorway at high speed. A tyre explosion or something similar is supposed. ”We will investigate what happened and what caused the collision,” Swedish police said in a statement on Monday.
At least for the instant they have found no evidence that it was intentional. Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as offensive. Some conservative Muslims also consider dogs unclean, so especially offensive.Vilks had said that the cartoons were not intended to provoke Muslims, but to challenge political correctness in the art world. “That’s a way of expressing things. If you don’t like it, don’t look at it. And if you look at it, don’t take it too seriously. No harm done, really,” he said. Vilks noted that he had also depicted Jesus as a pedophile. He had a $100,000 bounty put on his head and his house was fire-bombed.
