COPENHAGEN: A Danish court Thursday found a Somali man guilty of attempted terrorism for trying to kill a cartoonist whose 2005 blasphemous sketches stirred Muslim outrage around the globe. The 29-year-old defendant entered Kurt Westergaard's home in the northwestern town of Aarhus on New Year's Day in 2010. The cartoonist locked himself inside a panic room and was unharmed. During the trial, the defendant, who cannot be named under a court order, said he wasn't planning to kill Westergaard but just wanted to scare him. The Aarhus city court sided with prosecutors and labeled the attack an act of terror. It also found the man guilty of assaulting a police officer but acquitted him of attempted murder for throwing the ax at police when they confronted him in Westergaard's home. The Somali man listened quietly and calmly when Judge Ingrid Thorsboe read the verdict. Defense lawyer Niels Christian Strauss said they had not yet decided whether to appeal the verdict. A sentence is expected Friday. He could face life in prison, although such sentences are generally reduced to 16 years under Danish law. Prosecutors earlier had demanded that the defendant is expelled from Denmark after serving the sentence. Prosecutor Kirsten Dyrman had argued the defendant intended to kill Westergaard and the crime should be viewed as terrorism because it aimed to “seriously frighten the population” and destabilize Denmark. He demanded 12 years behind bars for the Somali man.
