The Swedish Caricaturist Lars Vilks, white of an attack in Copenhagen in 2015 and who lived under protection after drawing the prophet Muhammad with a dog body in 2007, has died in a car accident in Sweden along with the two policemen who protected him.
The Swedish police have confirmed the death of the 75-year-old caricaturist and the two policemen in a violent accident in the south of the country, and ruled out the hypothesis of an intentional act.
“It is subject to research like any car accident. As there are two policemen involved, an investigation was opened by a particular section of the Prosecutor’s Office,” said a spokesman for the local police.
The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon on the E4 motorway of the Markaryd commune (south) when the vehicle in which Iban cracked with a truck that circulated in the opposite direction, police said in a statement on Sunday night.
The two vehicles were burned “after the collision”.
According to the express newspaper, the police vehicle, which was at high speed, crossed a safety fence for reasons not yet determined before hitting the truck.
The truck driver was hospitalized, the police said.
“That the person who protected and two colleagues have found death in this tragedy is inconceivable and terribly sad,” said Carina Persson, head of the regional police.
After his drawing of Muhammad as a dog, Vilks went on to live under protection almost uninterrupted due to the numerous threats and aggressions on the part of Islamic fundamentalists.
On February 14, 2015, a young Danish of Palestinian origin opened fire during a debate on freedom of expression in Copenhagen, organized after the deadly attack against Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
Vilks and the Ambassador of France left unharmed, but a 55-year-old Danish filmmaker died at the hands of the young man of Palestinian origin, who hours later killed a watchman from the Copenhagen synagogue.
The attacker died the next day in a confrontation with the Danish police.