PARIS/BOBIGNY: Charlie Hebdo published a front page showing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie” in its first edition since Islamist gunmen attacked the satirical newspaper.
With demand surging for the edition, the weekly printed three million copies, dwarfing its usual run of 60 000, after newsagents reported a rush of orders. Digital versions were posted in English, Spanish and Arabic, while print editions in Italian and Turkish appeared.
France has drafted in extra police and soldiers to provide security after 17 people were killed in three days of violence that began when two gunmen burst into Charlie Hebdo’s offices, opening fire in revenge for the paper’s publication of satirical images of Muhammad in the past.
The front page of Wednesday’s Charlie Hebdo edition shows a tearful Mohammad with a sign “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) below the headline: “Tout est pardonné” (All is forgiven).
“I wrote ‘all is forgiven’ and I cried,” Renald Luzier, who drew the image, told journalists at the weekly’s temporary office at the headquarters of the left-wing daily Liberation.
The new edition of Charlie Hebdo, known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions, included other cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad and also making fun of politicians and other religions, its lawyer said. There was no official reaction from the French government on the new edition.
French Muslim leaders urged their community to keep calm and respect the right to freedom of expression.
“What is uncomfortable for us is the representation of the Prophet,” Abdelbaki Attaf said at the funeral in the northern Paris suburb of Bobigny of Ahmed Merabet, the Muslim policeman shot trying to defend the Hebdo cartoonists.
“Any responsible Muslim will find it hard to accept that. But we shouldn’t ban it,” said Attaf.
Reuters