Cartoons Possible Terror Motive
Copenhagen Post, May 10, 2007
Prosecutors claim that four men charged with planning a terrorist bombing were seeking revenge for publication of the Mohammed cartoons
Retribution for a Danish newspaper’s publication of the now-infamous Mohammed cartoons was one of the motives behind four men’s alleged plans to detonate a bomb in Copenhagen, according to the assistant crown prosecutor in the Vollsmose terror trial.
Charlotte Alsing Juul accused three of the men of using the cartoons and Denmark’s participation in the Iraq war as justification for planning to bomb ‘a place where political decisions are made’, such as parliament’s address at Christiansborg Palace.
The Eastern High Court in Copenhagen subsequently extended custody for the three men as Juul argued that two of them were the leaders of a terror cell based in an Odense mosque. Prosecutors said they have evidence obtained from a mole working for domestic intelligence agency PET, which included bomb-making substances found in the suspect’s flats and corresponding bomb making instructions downloaded from the internet.
The suspects have continually denied planning an attack and claimed that PET’s mole organised and encouraged the plot. The defence argued that the mole was overzealous in his role and possibly used illegal means to obtain much of the prosecution’s evidence.
Juul stated the mole obeyed specific instructions given to him by PET to play a passive role in the plans, listening and refraining from voicing any extremist viewpoints.