The remaining staff of the satirical French newspaper that lost nine employees last week in the worst terrorist attack on France in years say they are not only planning to publish a paper this week, but it will contain cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammed because that’s just what they do.
The Daily Mail is reporting on the announcement by Richard Malka, a lawyer representing the publication, Charlie Hebdo. According to Malka, the remaining staff are using the facilities of a rival newspaper to print this week’s edition which will print images of Mohammed in defiance of the extremists who slaughtered their editor and colleagues last week.
Mr Malka told France Info radio: ‘We will not give in. The spirit of ‘Je suis Charlie’ means the right to blaspheme. We will not give in otherwise all this won’t have meant anything.”
He continued: “A Je Suis Charlie banner means you have the right to criticize my religion, because it’s not serious. We have never criticized a Jew because he’s a Jew, a Muslim because he’s a Muslim or a Christian because he’s a Christian. But you can say anything you like, the worst horrors – and we do – about Christianity, Judaism and Islam, because behind the nice slogans, that’s the reality of Charlie Hebdo.”
The remaining staff of the paper are working on the eight-page issue from a heavily guarded temporary location inside the headquarters of the newspaper, Liberation. With most of their cartoon staff killed in the attack, the paper put out a call to cartoonists from around the world asking for submissions.
This issue will have an initial printing of one million copies and will be translated into 16 different languages.
But it hasn’t been easy for the traumatized staff.
Luz, a Charlie cartoonist, said: ‘We’re getting by. We are having less nightmares. We are trying to put a magazine together and find some calm and inspiration, it’s not easy. We are down to a skeleton staff since last Wednesday as you might have noticed but we’ll try our best.”
Since the attack on the paper which was carried out by two Muslim terrorists last Wednesday morning, messages of support for Charlie Hebdo and its always controversial publication have been pouring in from around the world by those who believe freedom of speech must be protected from encroachment by Islamic fundamentalists who are bent on imposing their religion on the world.
An unprecedented three million French poured into the streets on Sunday in a silent display of unity and defiance against Muslim extremism which has reached crisis proportions around the globe.
In the meantime, the French government announced yesterday that an additional 10,000 security officers will be deployed at “sensitive sites” across the country, including Jewish schools and mosques.
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