Irish police release three over cartoonist plot

DUBLIN, March 13

Irish police have released three of the seven people arrested on Tuesday in connection with an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist over a drawing depicting the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog.

The police said a man and two women were released from custody in the southern county of Waterford late on Friday where they had been detained as part of an investigation into a "conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction".

The police declined to give details except to say that the original suspects were four men and three women ranging in age from their mid 20s to late 40s.

A security source confirmed to Reuters that the alleged plot under investigation was to murder Lars Vilks, for whose killing an Iraqi group linked to al Qaeda offered a $100,000 reward in 2007.

The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it had charged a Pennsylvania woman, Colleen LaRose, who went by the pseudonyms "Fatima LaRose" and "JihadJane," with plotting to kill a Swedish man.

Vilks, who said he has prepared a secure room in his house with barricades in case of any break-in, told Reuters on Wednesday that he had received more death threats through Internet messages since the arrests were made.

In January, a Somali man was indicted on charges of terrorism and attempted murder for breaking into the home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and threatening him with an axe.

A cartoon by Westergaard in 2005 which depicted the Prophet Mohammad with a turban shaped like a bomb sparked outrage across the Muslim world, with at least 50 people killed in riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as offensive.

-Reuters