‘Kurt Westergaard’: Man behind blasphemous caricatures dies at 86

Reportedly, Westergaard passed away in his sleep following prolonged illness.

The illustrator was behind 12 drawings published by a conservative daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten under the headline ‘The Face of Mohammed’ which sparked particular anger.

Initially, the caricatures went almost unnoticed but after two weeks, a demonstration against them was held in Copenhagen and then ambassadors from Muslim countries in Denmark lodged a protest.

In February 2006, the anger escalated into anti-Danish violence across the Muslim world.

In addition, the violence linked to the cartoons culminated in a 2015 massacre that left dozen people dead at the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris, which had reprinted the cartoons in 2012.

Westergaard had been working at Jyllands-Posten since the mid-1980s as an illustrator.

In 2010, local police caught a 28-year-old man armed with a knife in Westergaard's house, where he was planning to murder him.

In recent years of his life Westergaard, had to live under police protection at a secret address.