Office of French Satirical Magazine Destroyed After Release of Special Issue “Charia Hebdo”

Charbonnier in front of the destroyed office

The office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been attacked and destroyed by Molotov cocktails on Tuesday night, November 1st, the eve of the launch of the weekly issue.

The cover of the magazine was entitled “Charia Hebdo” and has been circulating since Monday on social networking websites provoking many angry comments. It shows a laughing Prophet Mohammed as Editor-in-Chief with the slogan “100 lashes, if you do not die of laughter!”

The issue was released in reaction to the victory of Ennahda in the Tunisian elections and Mustafa Abd Al Jalil’s statement that sharia law will be the main source of law in Libya.

The fire was contained and there were no casualties, but “everything with which me made the issue was burned”, said Stephane Charbonnier, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine, according to a statement given to AFP.

This morning, November 2nd, the newspaper’s website was hacked as well. The website now shows the slogan “For Islam” in English and Turkish to denounce the use of the image of the Prophet Muhammad. The hackers also inserted a picture of the Mosque of Mecca, accompanied by the slogan “No God but Allah”.

The hacked website

“We received threats…People reacted violently to a magazine the content of which they totally ignore. That’s what is most absurd and stupid”, Charbonnier told AFP.

He confirmed that despite the fire, the Wednesday edition will be on newsstands.

Charlie Hebdo had previously appeared in court but was acquitted in response to the Muhammad cartoons published in February 2006, which were considered as offensive by Islamic organizations.

Abou Yaarab Marzouki, member of Ennahda’s political office, stated that “The opinion of the French Left is the least of my concerns”. He said that they should not have responded by violence and maintained that “Blasphemy, when it is from those who don’t believe in Islam, does not matter. We don’t need to respond to this provocation. The Prophet Mohamed is the leader of this Islamic Renaissance”.

“The newspaper is satirical and they have the right to publish what they like” said Youssef Essidik, Islamologist .

He views the attacks on the newspaper’s office in Paris as inadmissible, maintaining that Islam is immune and “cannot be weakened by an issue”. According to Essidik “Nothing can justify violence”.