She received her first death threat within days.
One was a fatwa that came from radical and influential cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — an American-born imam who lived in Yemen — who said Norris was a “prime target” for execution for creating blasphemous cartoons.
Norris had kicked off controversy in April 2010 with a cartoon published online about an imaginary group called “Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor” that proposed an “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.”
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Recently, Norris’ name popped up on al Qaeda’s most wanted list in the jihadist magazine, Inspire. The list also included Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, gunned down along with 11 others last week in Paris.
“A chill ran down my spine because I saw her name on a list of “A Bullet a Day Keeps the Infidel Away” and it was horrible,” Appelo said. “I’m sure she felt the chill too.”
CNN’s Alina Machado and Patrick Oppman contributed to this story.
