Kurt Westergaard

Kurt Westergaard grew up in a conservative Christian environment in Himmerland, Denmark, and worked as a schoolteacher before joining the conservative daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 1983 as a full-time illustrator and editorial cartoonist. Over twenty-five years, he drew thousands of political and satirical sketches commenting on Danish politics and international events.

In September 2005, Westergaard was one of twelve cartoonists who responded to Jyllands-Posten's call to draw the Prophet Muhammad, depicting the Islamic prophet wearing a turban containing a bomb with a burning fuse. The drawings triggered global outrage, boycotts of Danish goods, and lethal riots in Muslim-majority nations in early 2006. Westergaard survived multiple assassination plots, including a 2010 ax attack inside his Aarhus home by an al-Shabaab militant, spending the remainder of his life under round-the-clock state security while unrepentantly defending free expression.