Terror Threats Forced Cartoonist to Change Identity, Disappear

Almost five years ago, Molly Norris drew a cartoon that would end her life as she knew it. The April 2010 drawing depicted likenesses of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on a number of items – including a tea cup, a thimble and a domino – and called for an “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” on behalf of an imaginary group called “Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor.”

She got her first death threat within days. And it wasn’t courtesy of some faceless yahoo trolling behind a keyboard, but an actual fatwa (or religious ruling) from the infamous & radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who called Norris a “prime target” for execution.

Several months later, at the FBI’s recommendation, she went into hiding.

“She didn’t mean to skewer or offend. She just thought people should lighten up,” her friend Tim Appelo said. “She was just standing up for free speech. But in a very gentle way.”

At the time, Norris told a Seattle magazine that the consequences of the drawing were unintended.

“I didn’t mean for my satirical poster to be taken seriously,” Norris told City Arts Magazine in Seattle. “It became kind of an excuse for people to hate or be mean-spirited. I’m not mean-spirited.” In fact, she was inspired by the satirical spirit of South Park – specifically the episode in which “Muhammad” appeared dressed in a bear suit. The episode appeared in edited form after Comedy Central received threats themselves.

Others, inspired by Norris, began a Facebook campaign to create Muhammad illustrations across the Interweb. Over 100,000 people signed up, so much so that a Pakistani court shut down the county’s access to the social media site for two weeks.

In an attempt to distance herself from the religious criticisms launched because of her actions, and to destroy stereotypes, Norris made a short film about the experiences of American Muslim women who wear head scarves.

But it was too little, too late. The threats kept rolling in, and the FBI, believing them to be credible, advised Norris to change her name and go into hiding.

“Now, four and a half years later the credibility of that threat has been shown,” said David Gomez, a retired FBI agent formerly assigned to the case, in reference to the recent attacks on cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

A former employer of Norris at the Seattle Weekly had this to say: “She likens the situation to cancer. It might basically be nothing, it might be urgent and serious, it might go away and never return, or it might pop up again when she least expects it. We’re hoping the religious bigots go into full and immediate remission, and we wish her the best.”

Al-Awlaki, the radical cleric previously mentioned, was killed by a drone in Yemen back in 2011, but the threats didn’t die with him.

Norris’ name recently popped up on an al Qaeda most wanted list in the jihadist magazine, Inspire. Sadly, and frighteningly, the list also included the name of Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, who was killed in the recent attack at the Paris office.

[via CNN]