Kurt Westergaard, Danish Cartoonist of Muhammad Caricature, Dies at 86

Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist whose 2005 caricature of the Prophet Muhammad sparked global protests and violence, died at age 86. His family announced he passed away in his sleep after a long illness. Born in 1935 in Døstrup, Denmark, Westergaard worked as a teacher before joining Jyllands-Posten in the early 1980s as a cartoonist. His drawing, depicting Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban, led to demonstrations in Copenhagen, protests from Muslim ambassadors, and violent riots across Islamic countries, triggering an international political crisis for Denmark. Westergaard lived under police protection and in secret locations for the rest of his life. In 2010, Danish police arrested a Somali man armed with a knife who attempted to break into his home to kill him. The controversy escalated further in 2015 with the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, which had republished the Jyllands-Posten cartoons in 2012.