A Swedish court on Thursday sentenced two brothers to jail for fire-bombing the home of Swedish artist Lars Vilks over a picture of the Prophet Mohammed.

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Mensur Alija, 19, and his 21-year brother Mentor were sentenced to two and three years behind bars, respectively.

Both were found guilty of attempting to commit arson.

The court in the southern city of Helsingborg said that "Mentor Alija and Mensur Alija tried to set fire to Lars Vilks's home ... (because) of his artwork in which Mohammed was depicted as a dog deeply upset and provoked them."

The brothers, who are Swedish nationals of Kosovar origin, were arrested in May when several of their personal items were found outside the artist's house after it was attacked with Molotov cocktails.

Although the fire blackened some of the house's exterior it went out on its own without causing much damage. The artist was not at home at the time.

The court documents said both brothers denied the crime but noted their personal items had been found near Vilks's house.

The court said arson carries a "very high sentence" of minimally two years and up to eight years. The prosecutor in the case had asked for a six-year jail sentence for the older brother and four years for the 19-year-old.

During the court hearings, Mentor Alija said Vilks was "Islam's greatest enemy."

He "is God's enemy, he is the Prophet's enemy, he is the Muslims' enemy," he told the court, according to the TT news agency.

Vilks has faced numerous death threats and a suspected assassination plot since his drawing of the Muslim prophet with the body of a dog was first published by Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda in 2007 to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.

The drawing by Vilks prompted protests by Muslims in the town of Oerebro, west of Stockholm, where the newspaper is based, while Egypt, Iran and Pakistan made formal complaints.