By IRNA,
Berlin : Three male suspects detained in Denmark for their alleged role in plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper denied the allegations during a pre-trial hearing which opened Thursday near Copenhagen.
The trio, who resided in Sweden, declined further comment. The presiding judge then resumed the hearing behind closed doors.
The Danish secret service PET claimed that the suspects were planning an ‘imminent’ attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper that had published blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in 2005.
A fourth man who was also arrested Wednesday has been freed from custody, the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel quoted Danish secret service circles as saying Thursday.
The 26-year-old Iraqi-born man, who lives in Denmark, remained still a suspect, according to PET.
Meanwhile, a separate hearing was due in Sweden later in the day against a fifth man, a 37-year-old Tunisian-born man arrested in connection with the case.
The five suspects, four of whom lived in Sweden, with three holding Swedish citizenship, were aged 26 to 44.
Two were Tunisian-born, one Lebanese-born, one Iraqi-born and one was a Swedish national whose ethnic background was unknown, according to Danish intelligence officials.