You Can't Just Go Around Threatening Cartoonists

There are consequences. We have a little thing called freedom of expression in the West that means you can't threaten someone for depicting Islam's prophet Mohammed (or in the case of South Park cartoon creators, drawing a bear mascot and suggesting that Mohammed was inside). Actually, threats are a bad idea, period. You go to jail.

That's where Jesse Morton is going.

Jesse Morton, also known as Younus Abdullah Mohammad, was detained in Morocco last May in connection with alleged threats posted on the Revolution Muslim website after "South Park" depicted Mohammad as a man in a bear suit. Prosecutors allege that Morton helped write a "clarification statement" that amounted to a further threat against the "South Park" creators by praying for their deaths and suggesting that they were likely to face the violent demise of other critics of Islam.

 

Some Muslims view any visual depiction of Mohammad as offensive. The "South Park" episode was considered a commentary on an earlier controversy over a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons of the Muslim prophet.

Morton was transferred to U.S. custody in Rabat in October and returned to the U.S. later that month.

 

A lawyer for Morton, James Hundley, said his client plans to appear in federal court in Alexandria, Va. on Thursday to plead guilty to three felonies: conspiracy, communicating threats, and internet stalking. Each carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.