Danish Artist Behind Controversial Prophet Mohammed Cartoon Dies at 86

Westergaard, a controversial Danish illustrator has died after “a long illness,” reports Danish media. His death was reported Sunday after a statement was released by Westergaard’s family.

Denver- Kurt Westergaard, a controversial Danish illustrator has died after “a long illness,” reports Danish media. His death was reported Sunday after a statement was released by Westergaard’s family.

The Danish artist received international notoriety due to a cartoon depiction of Prophet Muhammed that he created for Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005. The cartoon depicted the prophet with a turban that resembled a bomb, and the illustration was immediately met with intense backlash.

Images depicting the Prophet are considered offensive in Islam, and Westergaard’s picture was considered extremely disrespectful by Muslims around the world.

The publication of the cartoon led to wide-scale protests by Muslims in Denmark and the rest of the world. Danish embassies around the globe were vandalized in response to the picture, and riots reportedly left dozens dead.

Westergaard’s actions triggered a wave of later depictions of the Prophet, one of the most famous ones being the French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo. The offices of Charlie Hebdo was attacked in 2015 by two French Muslim brothers, and resulted in the deaths of twelve people. The Charlie Hebdo attacks sparked intense debate over the rights of political expression and how it related to respect for religious customs.

While Westergaard was alive, he was allegedly the target of “assasination attempts,” according to the BBC. This resulted in Westergaard going into hiding for a period of time, before returning to the public eye. Westergaard was forced to live in a “heavily fortified home” as a direct result of the threats on his life.

Three men in Belgium were convicted for attempts on Westergaard’s life, and one man was sentenced to nine years for his attempts on the artist’s life. In an interview with Reuters, Westergaard maintained he had “no regrets” about his action. He claimed that his cartoon acted as “a catalyst which is intensifying the adaptation of Islam,” sparking what he saw as an opportunity for “discussing the two cultures.”