Charlie Hebdo front cover depicts Muslim man kissing cartoonist
Its offices have been firebombed, its website hacked, its Facebook page suspended for 24 hours and its
staff targeted with death threats, so you might have thought the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo
would have tried – just for a while – to avoid upsetting anyone.
Mais non! After provoking all the above with last week's special edition "guest edited" by the prophet
Muhammad, entitled Charia Hebdo, which took pot-shots at radical Islam, the publication is set to raise a
few more hackles with this week's edition, published on Wednesday.
On the front page of the latest edition is a drawing of a male Charlie Hebdo cartoonist passionately
kissing a bearded Muslim man, under the headline:L'Amour plus fort que la haine (love is stronger than
hate).
In the background of the cartoon, signed Luz, are the ashes of the magazine's offices, completely destroyed
in the Molotov cocktail attack last week.
Unlike the previous edition, which featured a front page carton of the prophet and a speech bubble
reading "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter", there is no suggestion that the character on the
magazine cover is Muhammad.
Doesn't have to be, everyone knows now the one on the left is a representation of Islam.
After the firebombing, French Muslim groups who had been highly critical of Charlie Hebdo, condemned
the destruction of its offices. Dalil Boubakeur head of the Paris Mosque, told journalists: "I am extremely
attached to the freedom of the press, even if the press is not always tender with Muslims, Islam or the
Paris Mosque".
The editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stéphane Charbonnier, said at the time: "We thought the lines had moved
and maybe there would be more respect for our satirical work, our right to mock. Freedom to have a good
laugh is as important as freedom of speech."
Amen. Read it all
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