Kurt Westergaard was the man behind the most famous of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. By virtue of this, he also lives under the constant threat that an Islamist militant will try to end his life. In January, a Somali Muslim broke into Westergaard's home wielding both an axe and a knife - Westergaard was able to hole up in a panic room until police arrived, and was luckily unharmed.

One would hope that this was the last time that someone would try to murder Kurt Westergaard. Indeed, one attempted killing would seem like a reasonable limit for any cartoonist. However, another attempt on Westergaard's life was foiled in Norway this September, as reported by Ahram Online: 

"Norwegian police have arrested a suspect who was preparing a deadly attack against a Danish cartoonist behind a controversial caricature of the Prophet Mohammed, a Norwegian newspaper reported Saturday. 

The suspect, who is in his 30s, was detained Tuesday after Norwegian intelligence discovered Kurt Westergaard was the target of an assassination plot involving automatic weapons and explosives, according to the Dagbladet daily.

Westergaard revealed earlier this week that he had cut short a visit

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The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) is the quasi-judicial body that has become semi-famous for its one-week show trial of Macleans Magazine after it had the audacity to publish Mark Steyn in its pages, and for fining comic Guy Earle over $15,000 after getting into a tussle with some lesbian hecklers at an open mic. It is the living embodiment of everything that is wrong with government involvement in what we say and how we live our lives.

Last summer we learned that Heather MacNaughton, the head of the BCHRT at the time, and tribunal member Judy Parrack were not going to be re-appointed to their positions. Indeed, for a little while, there was even a little doubt as to the future purpose of the BCHRT itself. That didn't last long, however, and long-time bureaucrat Bernd Walter was appointed in MacNaughton's stead to carry on her, erm, fine work. 

But whatever became of Heather MacNaughton herself? Well, this May she was appointed, as of June 1st, by the province's lieutenant-governor as a BC Supreme Court master, which means that she'll be making decisions about procedural motions and pre-trial hearings. It also means...More >>

Earlier this year, Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei was released from the clutches of the Chinese government after three months in jail. Apparently his stay in prison hasn't dampened his spirit, because late last month he published a scathing critique of the city of Beijing. Courtesy of The Daily Beast: 

This city is not about other people or buildings or streets but about your mental structure. If we remember what Kafka writes about his Castle, we get a sense of it. Cities really are mental conditions. Beijing is a nightmare. A constant nightmare.

H/t to Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing. Meanwhile, Shikha Dalmia at Reason Magazine's Hit & Run blog adds:

The plight of rural migrants in China is one of the most under-reported stories in the West—but also one that spells most trouble for China’s autocracy. During Mao’s reign, the country implemented something called hukou, an internal passport that went to draconian lengths to control the movement of Chinese people. Under hukou, every citizen is assigned a status—urban or rural—upon birth, creating a kind of locational apartheid. If people want to move outside their birth hukou, they need official

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Here are a couple of quick items that should give us a helpful glimpse into the state of freedom of speech in Australia. 

First, the story of Aussie broadcaster Michael Smith, who is in hot water over comments that he has made regarding the prophet Muhammad. Heath Aston of the Sydney Morning Herald reports:

THE radio presenter Michael Smith is being investigated by the media watchdog over his assertion that the prophet Muhammad ''married a nine-year-old and consummated it when she was 11''.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority confirmed in a letter dated July 21 that it was investigating the remarks by the 2UE afternoon host.

Adem Cetinay, a Muslim from Bossley Park, complained that Mr Smith was inciting hatred against Muslims through his July 5 broadcast.

As to whether or not Michael Smith was right to associate the prophet Muhammad with pedophilia, according to the Sahih al-Bukhari, one of the collections of hadith attributed to Muhammad, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 236: 

Narrated Hisham's father:

Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married

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