Somali jailed over cartoonist attack

A Somali man has been jailed for nine years for trying to kill a Danish cartoonist whose 2005 drawing of the prophet Mohamed provoked global Muslim outrage.

A court in Aarhus also ruled that Muhudiin Mohamed Geele must be expelled from Denmark and banned from the country for life after serving his sentence.

Geele, 29, broke into the home of Kurt Westergaard with an axe and a knife on New Year's Day last year. He was convicted on Thursday of an attempted act of terrorism and attempted manslaughter. He had denied the charges and told the court that he was merely trying to frighten the cartoonist

The court said that the attack was an attempt to frighten the population and destabilise society and thus constituted an act of terror.