A history of threats over Muhammad cartoons

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

A history of threats over Muhammad cartoons

Molotov cocktails, hackings to their website, and a series of death threats have marked the history of the irreverent Charlie Hebdo magazine, whose offices were attacked today by armed gunmen who killed at least 12 people and wounded another 10. But the magazine has never pulled its punches when it came to lambasting religion, especially radical Islam.

Witnesses reported that one of the shooters shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”), an the police has pointed to the magazine’s recent cartoons lampooning Muslim leaders and the Prophet Muhammad.

From publishing the Danish cartoons of Muhammad that sparked Middle East riots in 2005 to renaming an edition "Sharia Hebdo" and listing Islam's prophet as its supposed editor-in-chief, the weekly has repeatedly caricatured Muslims and their beliefs.

The magazine’s offices were firebombed in September 2011, and its website was attacked by hackers in September 2012, following the publication of a new cartoon.

They even edited an entire comic book, “The life of prophet Muhammad” which compiled all their previous work.

But politically left-libertarian, Charlie Hebdo has a long tradition of outrageous content, against politicians, bankers and religious idols of all kinds. Its latest Christmas edition included a close up image of Virgin Mary giving birth to baby Jesus.

Hours after the event, police still had no information about the identity of the three attackers. But the widespread assumption in Paris was that they were Muslim extremists punishing the publication for years of criticising their faith.

Police said the weekly had received several threats in recent weeks and had permanent police protection.