Norwegian prosecutors have decided to charge three men in connection with a plot against a cartoonist who drew controversial pictures of the Prophet Mohammed for a Danish newspaper in 2005.
Iraqi Kurd Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, Uzbeki national David Jakobsen, and Uighur Mikael Davud, all of whom were legal residents of Norway, are expected to be tried for conspiracy to commit terrorism next month.
The three men, who were arrested in Norway and Germany last year after a Police Security Service (PST) raid, are accused of planning an attack against Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and the Jyllands-Posten newspaper which published several drawings of the holy Muslim prophet. The controversial move led to angry protests across the Muslim world and the boycotting of Danish products, as well as several failed attacks against the newspaper, its staff and cartoonists.
It is alleged that the men tried to buy a gun with which to shoot Westergaard and purchased hydrogen peroxide and bomb components to attack the Chinese Embassy. Only Davud and Bujak now remain in custody, however, as Jakobsen has since been released after serving as a PST informant.
According to The Foreigner, it is believed by police that the accused have links with al-Qaida and other terrorism plots in the USA. All of the suspects deny guilt but could face up to 12 years behind bars if convicted.