Muhammad cartoonist draws Paris response
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Published: 9 Jan, 2015 CET.
Updated: Fri 9 Jan 2015 09:28 CET
Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist behind the most infamous of Jyllands-Posten’s Muhammad caricatures, has picked up his pen in support of the victims of Wednesday’s terror attack at the offices of French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Kurt Westergaard and his Skanderborg gallery, Galleri Draupner, have issued a special version of his 2009 work ‘Free Speech’ in reaction to the Paris attacks.
Westergaard’s work shows a man with a pen in his hand balancing on a rope above a precipice. The rope is tied to a sign that reads ‘Free Speech’.
Westergaard told TV2 News that the drawing represents “a balancing act”.
He said that the Charlie Hebdo attacks shouldn’t lead to self-censorship on sensitive issues.
“What I hope is that this doesn’t have too many negative consequences that media, newspapers and TV don’t get scared and begin going backward down a slippery slope when it comes to the freedom of expression,” he said.
Westergaard’s drawing of Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban became the most well-known of the 12 drawings published by Jyllands-Posten in 2005.
The 79-year-old Westergaard was targeted in a failed murder attempt at his home in 2010 but told media on Wednesday that he did not fear for his safety thanks to police protection.
Westergaard's 'Free Speech' piece in support of the Charlie Hebdo victims:
Kurt Westergaard spidser igen pennen http://t.co/mZPQ4pqz8K pic.twitter.com/lFsZDOa4ow
— Jyllands-Posten (@jyllandsposten) January 9, 2015
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Kurt Westergaard and his Skanderborg gallery, Galleri Draupner, have issued a special version of his 2009 work ‘Free Speech’ in reaction to the Paris attacks.
Westergaard’s work shows a man with a pen in his hand balancing on a rope above a precipice. The rope is tied to a sign that reads ‘Free Speech’.
Westergaard told TV2 News that the drawing represents “a balancing act”.
He said that the Charlie Hebdo attacks shouldn’t lead to self-censorship on sensitive issues.
“What I hope is that this doesn’t have too many negative consequences that media, newspapers and TV don’t get scared and begin going backward down a slippery slope when it comes to the freedom of expression,” he said.
Westergaard’s drawing of Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban became the most well-known of the 12 drawings published by Jyllands-Posten in 2005.
The 79-year-old Westergaard was targeted in a failed murder attempt at his home in 2010 but told media on Wednesday that he did not fear for his safety thanks to police protection.
Westergaard's 'Free Speech' piece in support of the Charlie Hebdo victims:
Kurt Westergaard spidser igen pennen http://t.co/mZPQ4pqz8K pic.twitter.com/lFsZDOa4ow
— Jyllands-Posten (@jyllandsposten) January 9, 2015
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