Denmark to try four men for plot on Prophet Mohammed cartoons newspaper

Four men charged with plotting to storm the offices of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten go on trial on Friday, in a reminder that Denmark remains a prime target of Islamist militants seeking to avenge the paper’s publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Police said the men planned to “kill as many as possible” at the central Copenhagen building that houses the newspaper in an attack they compared to the assault on Mumbai by 10 gunmen in 2008 that killed 166 people.

The men, three Swedish citizens and one Tunisian national, were arrested in December 2010, just three days before police said they planned to launch the attack on the newspaper and possibly another in an unspecified location.

The chief prosecutor said in the indictment that the men were charged with terrorism and illegal possession of weapons.

The indictment also said that they had planned purposely to frighten the population and carry out acts that could have seriously damaged Denmark.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Denmark’s Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said in January that Denmark is still considered a high-priority target by militant Islamists, with a specific threat against anyone associated with the cartoons, first published in 2005.

“The troubles linked to the Prophet Mohammed cartoons mean that there is a focus on Denmark as a potential terrorist target, we cannot deny that,” said Hans Jorgen Christian Bonnichsen, a security consultant who used to work for the PET.

Police uncovered a plot in 2009 to attack Jyllands-Posten, and in January 2010, the creator of the most controversial of the Mohammed cartoons escaped an axe attack at his home by a Somali man linked to al Qaeda.

David Headley, a Pakistani-American who said he scouted targets in Mumbai for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, also told investigators he had helped al-Qaeda plan an attack in Copenhagen. He was arrested in 2009.

The PET has said previously that the four men belonged to a militant Islamist group and had links to international terrorist networks. They declined to report any new comments ahead of the trial.

Standing in court will be Mounir Ben Mohamed Dhahri, a Tunisian citizen, Munir Awad a Swedish citizen born in Lebanon, Omar Abdalla Aboelazm, a Swedish citizen born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Egyptian father, and Sahbi Ben Mohamed Zalouti, a Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin. All were residents of Sweden.

Dhahri, Awad and Aboelazm were arrested on Dec. 29, 2010, after they came to Denmark from Sweden on the night of December 28, while Zalouti was arrested in Sweden and later extradited to Denmark.

A verdict is expected shortly after the trial ends around June 15. If convicted, they could face life sentences.

Jyllands-Posten was the first paper to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, provoking protests in 2006 against Danish and other European interests abroad and riots in countries from the Middle East to Africa and Asia in which at least 50 people died.

In May last year, a Chechen man was found guilty of an attempted act of terrorism against Jyllands-Posten after he mistakenly set off a small explosive device in the toilet of a Copenhagen hotel.