Theo van Gogh was 47

Controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who had received death threats because his movies and writings were critical of Islam, was murdered Tuesday while riding his bicycle in Amsterdam. Police, who said the murder was clearly premeditated, arrested a 26-year-old man with dual Dutch and Moroccan citizenship.

Dutch police later arrested eight more suspects, all Islamic radicals, in connection with the murder.

Van Gogh, a distant relative of 19th century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, stirred controversy with newspaper articles, books and films voicing his contentious views on Islam after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The London Times reported that Van Gogh's latest film, Submission, which featured a Muslim woman forced into an abusive arranged marriage and who was raped by her uncle, caused much outrage in the Dutch Muslim community. The 11-minute film had been broadcast on national television in August.

Throughout the Netherlands, the murder was denounced as an attack on free speech.

The killer, dressed in a traditional Moroccan jallaba, shot and stabbed the victim, then attached a note to Van Gogh's chest before fleeing the scene. He was captured after a gun battle with police.

Van Gogh had been working on a film about Pim Fortuyn, the populist right-wing, anti-immigration politician assassinated in May 2002.

For more on the murder from Dutch newspapers, click one of these links.

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