French Satirical Paper Firebombed after Mohammed Cartoon

(Canada.com) AFP, PARIS – The offices of a French satirical newspaper that published a special Arab Spring edition with the [Muslim] Prophet Mohammed on the cover as “guest editor” were destroyed in a…firebomb attack Wednesday.  Documents and equipment were strewn outside the newspaper’s offices after the fire, an AFP reporter said, and windows and glass doors were broken at street level and on the first floor.

A man shows the French satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo', featuring a caricature of the Prophet Mohammad on its cover, following a gas bomb attack on the magazine's offices on November 2, 2011 in Paris, France. The attack completely destroyed the offices.

The attack came after the French weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo [which means “Charlie weekly”] renamed its current issue Charia Hebdo [which means “Sharia weekly”] and featured a front-page cartoon of [Mohammed] saying: “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter!”

The newspaper’s website also appeared to have been hacked [by Islamists], with its regular home page replaced with a photo of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and a message [in English and Turkish] reading: “No god but Allah,” [and “You keep abusing Islam’s almighty Prophet with disgusting and disgraceful cartoons using excuses of freedom of speech.  Be God’s curse upon you!”]  The web site was later unavailable.

Editor [and publisher Stephane Charbonnier, known by the name Charb] said the attackers could not have even read the offending magazine.

“The arsonists haven’t read this paper, nobody knows what’s in the [latest edition of the] paper except those who buy it this morning.  People are reacting violently to a paper without knowing anything of its contents, that’s what’s most abhorrent and stupid,” he told BFM TV. [NOTE: Charlie Hebdo’s office was firebombed at 1 a.m., hours before the new edition was out on newsstands.]

The publication, historically famous for pillorying [mocking] Catholic clericalism, was criticized by Muslims in 2007 after reprinting the Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammad that caused outrage around the Islamic world.

Charb said the magazine had received “quite a few letters of protest, threats, insults” on Twitter and Facebook before the [bombing on Wednesday], but not as many as in 2007.  “It’s clear that it’s impossible to put together a paper in these conditions. For next week we will find offices elsewhere,” the editor said. “In any case there is no question that we [would] give ground to the Islamists. We will continue.  This is the first time we have been physically attacked, but we won’t let it get to us.”

French officials were quick to denounce the attack and offer support to the newspaper.

“Freedom of expression is an inalienable right in our democracy and all attacks on the freedom of the press must be condemned with the greatest firmness. No cause can justify such an act of violence,” Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in a statement.

Fillon said he had asked Interior Minister Claude Gueant to ensure “all light is shed on the origin of this fire and that its perpetrators be prosecuted.”

At the scene, Gueant told journalists: “Of course everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this attack, and this must certainly be called an attack.” Gueant said “all leads will be pursued” in the investigation, including threats made against the newspaper by Muslim fundamentalists.  “The investigation will determine who was responsible for this and, I hope, allow us to quickly find the guilty parties so they can be brought to justice.”

In a statement, the newspaper said it was “against all religious fundamentalism but not against practicing Muslims.”

“We are for the Arab Spring, against the winter of fanatics,” it said, adding later that all 75,000 copies of the edition had quickly sold out.

The Newspaper’s Special Edition

It would feature the prophet Mohammed as guest “editor,” the newspaper said.

As well as the cover cartoon, a back-page drawing featured Mohammed wearing a red nose and accompanied by the words: “Yes, Islam is compatible with humor.”  The depiction of the prophet’s face is strictly prohibited in Islam.

It also includes an editorial by the Prophet entitled Halal Aperitif and a women’s supplement called Madam Sharia.

Behind the humor, the editorial’s message is serious: “No religion is compatible with democracy from the moment a political party representing it wants to take power in the name of God.”  “What would be the point of a religious party taking power if it didn’t apply its ideas,” it goes on. “Hello, we are the Bolchevik party and if you vote for us we promise never to speak of Communism…Come on.”

Tareq Oubrou, head of the Association of Imams of France, said of  the attack: “This is an inadmissible act.”  He also said: “Freedom is very important. It is nonetheless important to underline the sensitivity of the situation we face today.  I call on Muslims to treat this lucidly and not succumb to what they consider as provocations regarding their religion … I personally call on Muslims to keep an open mind and not take this too seriously.”

This article is complied from news articles posted at Canada.com (from Agency France Presse News Service) and Telegraph.co.uk.  Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from Canada.com and Telegraph.co.uk.