PARIS – A French satirical weekly whose office was firebombed after it printed a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad has reproduced the image with other caricatures in a special supplement distributed with one of the country’s leading newspapers.
The weekly Charlie Hebdodefended "the freedom to poke fun" in the four-page supplement, which was wrapped around copies of the left-wing daily Libération on Thursday, a day after an arson attack gutted Charlie Hebdo's Paris headquarters.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place hours before an edition of Charlie Hebdohit news stands featuring a cover-page cartoon of Muhammad and a speech bubble with the words: "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter."
The weekly, known for its irreverent treatment of the political establishment and religious figures, bore the headline “Charia Hebdo”, in a reference to Muslim sharia law, and said that week’s issue had been guest-edited by Muhammad.
The incident pits Europe’s tradition of free speech and secularism against Islam’s injunction barring any depictions seen as mocking the prophet. The publication of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked unrest in the Muslim world in which at least 50 people were killed.
While French Muslim groups criticised Charlie Hebdo's work, they also condemned the fire-bomb attack. The head of the Paris Mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, told a news conference on Thursday: "I am extremely attached to freedom of the press, even if the press is not always tender with Muslims, Islam or the Paris Mosque. French Muslims have nothing to do with political Islam," he said.
Abderrahmane Dahmane, a Muslim former presidential adviser on religious diversity, said he was not shocked by the Charlie Hebdofront-page and even joked about the matter. – (Reuters)