Cartoon Terror Trial Begins in Denmark

Four men accused of planning a shooting spree at a newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed have gone on trail in Denmark. Prosecutors say the four—three Swedes and a Tunisian—were planning to shake Danish society by killing as many people as possible at the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, reports the BBC. The men are accused of terrorism and weapons offenses and face up to 16 years in jail if found guilty.

For the Danes, the trial is an unwelcome reminder of the uproar that began with the cartoons' publication in 2005, although it is not expected to spark the same outrage in Islamic countries, the AP finds. "I don't think this trial will have the same international impact in the Middle East as maybe it would have had five years ago," the head of Middle East studies at the University of Southern Denmark says. "Thankfully, the cartoon crisis is no longer an inflammatory issue, and when I travel to the Middle East now it is hardly ever mentioned." (More Jyllands-Posten stories.)