Denmark to prosecute 4 Swedish Muslims for planning an armed attack on offices of newspaper that published Mohammed cartoons

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Four Swedes accused of plotting a revenge attack on a newspaper that printed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad will go on trial Friday in Denmark, forcing the normally placid Nordic country to revisit an event it would rather put to rest.

The four men — all Swedish residents — are charged with terrorism after allegedly planning an armed attack inside the Copenhagen-based offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which published 12 cartoons of the prophet in 2005, sparking riots in Muslim countries and calls for revenge.

Swedish and Danish intelligence officials said they had followed the men for months and tailed their rental car from Stockholm before arresting three of them — Munir Awad, Omar Abdalla Aboelazm and Mounir Ben Mohamed Dhahri — in December 2010 at an apartment near the Danish capital. The fourth, Sabhi Ben Mohamed Zalouti, left the car and returned to Stockholm, were he was arrested the same day as the others.

The men are also charged with possession of illegal weapons.

Prosecutors have described the four as Islamic militants who wanted to frighten Danish society with a shooting spree.

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