Police in Ireland have released three of seven allegeded extremist Muslims arrested last Tuesday on suspicion of plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog. The two women and a man were released without charge after three days of questioning, Irish police said. Three men and one woman remain in custody.

The controversy started in 2007 when Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda published the cartoon, drawn by Lars Vilks, to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.

It prompted protests by some Muslims in Sweden and caused outrage in a number of Muslim countries. Egypt, Iran and Pakistan filed formal complaints. An al-Qaeda front organisation offered 100,000 US dollars to anyone who murdered the cartoonist and 50,000 dollars for the death of Nerikes Allehanda editor-in-chief Ulf Johansson.

The group arrested in Ireland consisted of three Algerians, a Libyan, a Palestinian, a Croatian and one US national.