US cartoonist threatened after mocking at Mohammed

Seattle, Sep 17: US cartoonist, Molly Norris forced to go into hiding after stirred up a religious storm with a tongue-in-cheek encouragement to draw images of the Muslim prophet, Mohammed.

"On the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI," Norris is "moving, changing her name and essentially wiping away her identity," local media reported.

However, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) did not make any comment on the issue.

Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Muslim cleric linked to al-Qaeda and thought to be hiding in Yemen, said this summer on a website that social satirist Norris was a "prime target."

Norris originally launched her mock campaign in protest at threats of violence issued against those who depict Mohammed, which is considered blasphemous in Muslim culture.

OneIndia News