Kartoonistan, Round Two?

Angry Iranian officials (are there any other kind?) summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires to the foreign ministry today for a drubbing. It seems a Swedish cartoonist and newspaper didn't remain sufficiently intimidated following last year's Kartoonistan riots, embassy torchings and bloodthirsty fatwas.

They went and published cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammed (Bless His Apparently Very Touchy Feelings). The artist in this case, Lars Vilks, has taken to drawing Muhammed's head on the body of a dog. You can view plenty of examples at his blog, but I think this Vilks drawing is much wittier:
The Drawing of the Prophet Muhammed in Invisible Ink captures perfectly the absurdity of the Muslim's position. One senses its subtlety will be lost on this crowd:

The Örebro local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of the drawings on August 18 to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion.

"The editorial was critical of the fact that so many had turned down Vilks's drawings for fear of the reactions they would provoke," Nerikes Allehanda's chief editor Ulf Johansson told AFP.

On Saturday, a week after the publication, a group of about 60 Muslims held a demonstration outside the newspaper's office to protest against the publication of the sketch. (source)

Uh, guys? Did you read the bit about freedom of religion? Go ahead and demonstrate -- it's your right. But it's also Vilks right to draw Muhammed if he wants to, and Nerikes Allehanda's right to publish it.

If this bothers you so much, my Muslim friends, I can suggest any number of repressive, freedom-hating countries you can return to.

hat-tip: memeorandum