Muhammad (pbuh) cartoonist Lars Vilks dies in car crash

Controversial Swedish artist Lars Vilks died in a car accident on Sunday (3 October) according to local media.

The artist died alongside two police officers after a truck collided with their car, police told Swedish broadcaster SVT. The truck driver has been taken to hospital.

Before 2007, Vilks was a little known painter, sculptor and art theorist. That year, he drew three cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) for an exhibition on dogs in art, to test whether the politically correct organisers would dare show them. They did not, citing security reasons.

The rejection of his cartoons did spark a debate on free speech in Sweden, and several newspapers printed them.

Vilks lived under constant protection by the Swedish police since 2010 and had received numerous death threats. In early 2014 an American woman who called herself Jihad Jane was sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting to kill him.

Later, in 2015, Vilks was the target of shooting in a cafe in Copenhagen where he was the main speaker of an event on freedom of expression. One person was killed and three were injured.