Seattle cartoonist still in hiding following 2010 Islamist death threat

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

Cartoonists around the world reacted defiantly to Wednesday's deadly Islamist terror attack at the offices of a Paris magazine, but the case of Molly Norris shows how the attack and prior threats of similar violence have already had a chilling effect on journalists who use art to convey their stories.

 

Norris, a Seattle-based political cartoonist, has been in hiding for more than four years after she launched "Draw Muhammad Day," a call to professional and amateur artists alike to sketch the Islamic prophet whose image is forbidden by the Koran.

 

Norris was an obscure cartoonist and blogger who took action after the creators of the show South Park were targeted by Muslim extremists for an upcoming episode in which Muhammad was to be depicted. The hit show's producers caved to the pressure of death threats and blurred the image of Muhammad when the show aired.

 

Norris' own cartoon image of Muhammad was never published in the Seattle Weekly, which often carried her work, but it went viral on the Internet. U.S. born Muslim cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki issued a fatwa, calling for the killing of Norris.

 

“We are no longer a free country if we journalists can’t criticize a religion that, for example, believes apostates need to be killed,” said Norris' onetime colleague, Larry Kelley.

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