Copenhagen  - A Danish court on Monday heard evidence against two Tunisian nationals suspected of planning to murder a Danish newspaper cartoonist.

The court was due to rule earliest Tuesday on whether the two were to remain in custody.

They have been held since February when security police said they had averted a plot to kill Kurt Westergaard, who drew a controversial cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban.

The cartoon was one of 12 images published in September 2005 by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

The cartoons sparked violent protests in 2006, and Danish companies were boycotted in many Muslim countries.

Leading Danish newspapers republished the cartoons after the alleged plot was disclosed, saying the move was to protect freedom of speech.

The Danish security and intelligence service (PET) on Monday presented more evidence against the two Tunisians, including that one of them had obtained a handgun and that the two had watched videos about suicide bombers.

After the PET presented its evidence, the defence claimed that it was insufficient and failed to fulfill demands stipulated by the Supreme Court that earlier this month ordered a new hearing, Danish news agency Ritzau reported from the district court.

The two men face deportation to Tunisia over the alleged plot. Last week, the prosecution dropped its case against a third suspect, a Danish national of Moroccan background. (dpa)