Defendants in arson attack on Lars Vilks' home say he is "Islam's greatest enemy," but deny attacking, of course

Priorities, eh? Anyway, they say it was a "barbecue accident." Right, everybody barbecues with Molotov cocktails. Surely, there's soon to be an Iron Chef episode where they're the secret ingredient! "Brothers deny Lars Vilks arson attack," from The Local, July 7 (thanks to Larry):

The trial of two brothers accused of fire-bombing the home of Swedish Muhammad cartoonist Lars Vilks opened on Tuesday with one of them describing the artist as "Islams's greatest enemy".

Artist Lars Vilks "is God's enemy, he is the Prophet's enemy, he is the Muslims' enemy," the eldest of the two brothers told the court in the southern city of Helsingborg, the TT news agency reported.

"He is Islam's greatest enemy right now," he added.

The news agency did not give the brothers' names, but the Expressen tabloid identified them as Mentor and Mensur Alija, aged 21 and 19.

Vilks has faced numerous death threats and a suspected assassination plot since his drawing of the Muslim prophet with the body of a dog was first published by Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda in 2007 to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.

The brothers, who are Swedish nationals of Kosovar origin, were arrested in May when several of their personal items were found outside the artist's house after it was attacked with Molotov cocktails.

Although the fire blackened some of the house's exterior it went out on its own without causing much damage. The artist was not at home at the time.

Blackened house exteriors: Cajun cooking meets jihad!

Both brothers have denied their involvement, even though Mensur Alija reportedly suffered serious burns on the night of May 15, when the attack occurred.

He has claimed he was involved in a barbecue accident.

Just a thought: Meteorological data for Helsingborg on May 15 shows a daytime high of 13.9 degrees Celsius (or centigrade, if you prefer) -- about 57 degrees Fahrenheit -- and a low of 7.5 Celsius, or 45.5 Fahrenheit. From an American perspective, at least, this is not ideal cookout weather.

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21 Comments

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Wellington | July 7, 2010 1:38 PM | Reply

Islam's greatest enemy is the truth. Always has been. Always will be.

Remembermedina | July 7, 2010 1:40 PM | Reply

I say even if convicted they serve no time.

Hugh | July 7, 2010 1:42 PM | Reply

"...this is not ideal cookout weather."

Maybe they were Australians, intending to throw something on the barb. There are quite a few Muslims, I gather, in Australia these days.

Lokar3791 | July 7, 2010 1:58 PM | Reply

A sure sign that Islam cannot be one of the world's great religions, if we knew nothing else about it, would be that it seems to teach no forgiveness. Have these people never heard about perhaps thinking of something else, and walking away? Islam's primary responses to the world seem to be anger and a sense of injury. Compare that to Jesus saying "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you," and we see a world of difference.

champ | July 7, 2010 2:00 PM | Reply

"...he is the Prophet's enemy"

muhammad is too busy roasting marshmallows in hell to care about Lars Vilks, or anyone for that matter ...

GibsonicallyGuitarded | July 7, 2010 2:06 PM | Reply

I live in Iowa. I grill outside in the dead of winter if I can find the grill under the snow drifts. 45 degrees? Pfft! Grow some.

Marisol replied to comment from GibsonicallyGuitarded | July 7, 2010 2:11 PM | Reply

1. Duly noted. I've always associated grilling with more summery weather than that.

2. You don't want me to "grow some."

3. I've always preferred Fender.

Wellington replied to comment from Marisol | July 7, 2010 2:20 PM | Reply

Love your #2.

ebonystone | July 7, 2010 2:34 PM | Reply

Probably barbecuing a nanny goat, the discarded sex-partner of one of their neighbors.

pulsar182 | July 7, 2010 3:13 PM | Reply

I've never seen Muslims BBQing anything....BBQing is bigtime fun...and fun is not allowed by Islam....Ayatollah Khomeni said so....

gravenimage | July 7, 2010 4:02 PM | Reply

From an American perspective, at least, this is not ideal cookout weather.
...................

True—unless you're BBQing a brined Turkey for Thanksgiving—a bit of a fad in the States right now—or burning down the house of "Islam's greatest enemy".

Defendants in arson attack on Lars Vilks' home say he is "Islam's greatest enemy," but deny attacking, of course
...................

It's rather like Muslim Holocaust denial—"the myth of the Holocaust was concocted by the perfidious Jews, but we hope there's a new one real soon, and this time all the Jews are wiped out!"

By the way, I took part in "Everybody Draw Muhammed Day". Do I get to be "Islam's greatest enemy" as well? Maybe I'll pass, since it seems to involve suffering axe attacks and having your home fire-bombed...

Wowsher | July 7, 2010 4:35 PM | Reply

A cartoonist is Islam's biggest enemy? What a joke. Unfortunately though the elder brother is not far off the mark.

duh_swami | July 7, 2010 4:53 PM | Reply

I thought Spencer was Islams greatest enemy...black arts and all...

pulsar182 | July 7, 2010 5:31 PM | Reply

Islams worst enemy is Allah...the Muslims just don't recognize the fact...

George | July 7, 2010 6:09 PM | Reply

"Mentor, you goathead! I TOLD you we should take that BBQ course at the Free University!"

"Silence, burkha-breath Mensur! You were supposed to cook the infidel, not YOUR$ELF!"

George | July 7, 2010 6:15 PM | Reply

Why does my 'S' look like a dollar-sign? Keyboard-error or muslim infiltration? Scotty, I told you not to retract those shields!

Rich | July 7, 2010 9:44 PM | Reply

A cartoonist is "Islam's greatest enemy"?

So freedom of expression is Islam's greatest enemy.

Freedom of women is Islam's greatest enemy.

Freedom of thought is Islam's greatest enemy.

What is Islam's greatest weapon? The blind faith of its fanatical believers.

What is Islam's greatest munitions factory? The child indoctrination centres of its Islamic schools.

These must be shut down in Western countries AND our school curriculums must ban religious teachings. AND they must have a compulsary syllabus teaching every child secular values - democracy, equality of all persons in the eyes of the law, the separation of Church and state, freedom of thought, expression and speech, freedom from bullying, violence and fear.

They have to be taught in this school curriculum that ANY ideology that infringes on these rights and freedoms is unlawful, bad, and must not be tolerated in free democratic societies such as ours.

Eastview replied to comment from GibsonicallyGuitarded | July 7, 2010 10:45 PM | Reply

Ditto on that. Why the thing about the weather? I live in central Alaska and also grill all year around.

Ranchman replied to comment from Rich | July 8, 2010 5:13 AM | Reply

Rich, I understand where you are coming from. But...a point to consider. When this country was founded, and I have reams of documents available on request,the majority of Americans had Christian values and practiced them.This ongoing perpetual feud between Christianity and Islam is nothing new, it's been around for centuries. Yet America has weakened while the muslim countries get stronger militarily, at least more persistent anyway,and America gets further away from her founding tenants. The separation of church and state has been grossly exaggerated through secular SCOTUS rulings and was never meant to mean what it does today.I firmly believe that if we were taught the same biblical values in school while growing up our nation would not be failing. Things like the pledge of allegiance and school prayer, while offensive to the smallest of minorities, are nothing to be afraid of, no? We are now going (or apparently have been since the first Roosevelt) socialist which is a secular humanist religion all its own, and which will surely further hasten our country's demise. I believe we must bring back moral, biblical teachings in school. Remember, Christianity is a religion of peace and tolerance, its presence in society will do much to bring our communities back from the brink. So...instead of pulling even further away from the way we should be going, we need to get rid of all these socialists (over half of the members in the House are also members of the Democratic Socialists of America--the DSA) and take our government back. Thank you for listening, God Bless.

p.s. Remember, I have many dox. avail. If you would like, post a reply here and we can work something out.

oli | July 8, 2010 7:03 AM | Reply

Well said Michael. Food for thought also for Rich. I come from one of the countries in Africa, which is known to be christian and our values were changed and model on christian values and I cannot help to think what we would have been like now if Jihad had reached our part of Africa. There would have been lots of Somalias. Christianity has given the world a uniform moral code and that is why Islam looks ugly to most of us. Otherwise in secular humanism what is reasonable to you mightnot be to me because of man's selfish ways.

Everywhere in the world where people have had a chance to hear the Gospel and have choosen to reject it they are riding on Romans 1:18-32 one way or another.God has given over the Western 1st world countries to their desires and the results are visible. The solution is to go back to GOD and Godly ways. The more the country denies its Judeo-Christian heritage the more it loses itself look at France you could think it is a Muslim country.America and Britain are starting to look like France.For the Christians in the Western Countries 2Chronicles 7:14 is very important and we must start to put it in practice because the churches are also full of sins and GOD wants us to start by cleaning up our templesand then this healing will flow down to even the secular people.

Marisol replied to comment from Eastview | July 8, 2010 5:42 PM | Reply

Well, I've learned something there -- I'm a lightweight on grilling! Blame it on my upbringing. I was hoping someone would chime in from Sweden or thereabouts on barbecuing habits in that part of the world.

Still, taken together with the other facts of the case, the weather data seems to add another element of weakness to their story, in my opinion.

And darn it, a barbecue sounds really good now.

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