Swedish artist Lars Vilks, under police protection for prophet Muhammad’s drawing, dies in truck crash

Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who was living under police protection after his sketch of the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog received death threats, died in a car crash on Sunday. He was in a civilian police car when a truck hit him, local media reported. While he’s also well known at his home for a chaotic driftwood sculpture built in a nature reserve without permission, it was the Prophet’s 2007 sketch that brought Vilks, 75, to international infamy. Most conservative Muslims believe that all visual representations of the prophets of Islam, especially Muhammad, should be banned, lest they encourage idolatry. More than one plot to kill Vilks had been unsuccessfully initiated over the past 13 years, especially after Al Qaeda put a price on his life. Two men attempted to burn down his house in 2010, gunfire at an event he attended in 2015 killed a director and three police officers, and a woman from Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to attempting to orchestrate his murder last year. The cause of Sunday’s crash is currently under investigation.