Two arrested in Copenhagen for helping gunman News
Two arrested in Copenhagen for helping gunman

[JURIST] Danish police on Sunday arrested two individuals suspected to have aided a gunman in the Copenhagen attacks that left two dead over the weekend. On Saturday a 22-year-old gunman, whose name has not yet been released, opened fire [WP report] at a cultural center that was hosting cartoonist Lars Vilks, who had been targeted by Muslim extremists for his caricature of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog. The gunman later opened fire outside a synagogue, where people were gathered in celebration of a bat mitzvah. Within his 12-hour rampage, the gunman wounded five police officers and killed Danish filmmaker Finn Noergaard, and Dan Uzan, a member of Denmark’s Jewish community. A manhunt ensued, and the gunman was found and shot to death after exchanging gunfire with a SWAT team. On Sunday night, the police arrested two suspect who have been accused of giving the gunman shelter and helping him to get rid of his weapons. Both suspects will face a custody hearing on Monday. Saturday’s attack has been linked to the recent attack against the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo [JURIST news archive].

Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad have sparked controversy across the globe. Pakistani lawmakers in January passed a resolution [JURIST report] and rallied outside parliament to protest the publication of images of Prophet Muhammad in Charlie Hebdo. That same week, a Turkish court banned access [JURIST report] to websites showing the images in the Charlie Hebdo magazine. In 2012 a Norwegian court convicted [JURIST report] two men accused of planning an attack against a Danish newspaper that published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, becoming the first conviction under Norway’s anti-terror laws. In May 2010 the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority [official website] ordered [JURIST report] Internet service providers to block social networking site Facebook in response to a competition created by a group of the website’s members entitled “Draw Muhammad Day.” In 2007 a French court cleared [JURIST report] Charlie Hebdo magazine and director Philippe Val of defamation in the prior year’s republication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad originally published in a Danish newspaper in 2005. Then French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy prepared a statement defending the right of the newspaper to publish the cartoons that the defense read during opening statements [JURIST report].