[Evidently the resurrected (atheistic) magazine identifies with a
Prophet Muhammad who pronounces: "All is forgiven."]

http://m.firstpost.com/world/charlie-hebdos-new-issue-cover-world-wanted-us-says-teary-cartoonist-2045025.html

Charlie Hebdo's issue after attack: 'Not the cover world wanted us to
do,' says teary cartoonist
Jan 14, 2015 8:16 IST

Paris: In an emotional act of defiance, Charlie Hebdo resurrected its
irreverent and often provocative newspaper Tuesday, featuring a
caricature of the Prophet Muhammad on the cover that drew immediate
criticism and threats of more violence.
The newspaper unapologetically skewered other religions as well, and
bragged that Sunday's turnout of a million people at a march in Paris
to condemn terrorism was larger "than for Mass."
"For the past week, Charlie, an atheist newspaper, has achieved more
miracles than all the saints and prophets combined," it said in the
edition's lead editorial. "The one we are most proud of is that you
have in your hands the newspaper that we always made."
Working out of borrowed offices, surviving staff published an
unprecedented print run of 3 million copies - more than 50 times the
usual circulation.
It was to appear on newsstands Wednesday, one week to the day after
the assault by two masked gunmen that killed 12 people, including much
of the weekly's editorial staff and two police officers. It was the
beginning of three days of terror that saw 17 people killed before the
three Islamic extremist attackers were gunned down by security forces.
Before the new edition was even released, one of Egypt's top Islamic
authorities had warned Charlie Hebdo against publishing more cartoons
of the Prophet Muhammad. Dar al-Ifta, which is in charge of issuing
religious edicts, called the planned cover an "unjustified
provocation" for millions of Muslims who respect and love their
prophet and warned the cartoon would likely spark a new wave of
hatred.
Indeed, criticism and threats immediately appeared on militant
websites, with calls for more strikes against the newspaper and
anonymous threats from radicals, according to the SITE Intelligence
Group, a U.S.-based terrorism monitor.
The latest cover shows a weeping Muhammad, holding a sign reading "I
am Charlie" with the words "All is forgiven" above him. Zineb El
Rhazoui, a journalist with the weekly, said the cover meant the
journalists are forgiving the extremists for the attack.
Renald Luzier, the cartoonist who drew the cover image under the pen
name "Luz," said it represents "just a little guy who's crying."
Then he added, unapologetically: "Yes, it is Muhammad."
Speaking at a news conference in which he repeatedly broke down
crying, Luzier described weeping after he drew the picture.
"I wrote 'everything is pardoned', and I cried," he said, adding that
at that moment the staff understood the drawing would be the cover.
"It is not the cover that the world wanted us to do," he said,
tearfully putting his head down on the table at one point as
colleagues embraced him in a group hug.
Charlie Hebdo had faced repeated threats and a firebombing for
depictions of the prophet, and its editor and his police bodyguard
were the first to die. Many Muslims believe all images of the prophet
are blasphemous.
The latest issue of Charlie Hebdo maintained the intentionally
offensive tone that made the newspaper famous in France. The first two
pages included drawings by the slain cartoonists: One showed a
well-known late French nun talking about oral sex; another showed
Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders dividing up the world.
The lead editorial laid out a vigorous defense of secularism, and of
the newspaper's right to lampoon religions and hold their leaders
accountable - and ended with a critique of the pope.
But most of the controversy centered on the cover and its depiction of
the Prophet Muhammad.
Around the world, news organizations took different approaches to
illustrating stories about the Charlie Hebdo cover. In the United
States, CBS programs and The New York Post ran images of the cover,
while the ABC network didn't. The New York Times also didn't publish
it, but included a link to it. CNN didn't show the cover online or on
the air. The Associated Press had not run previous Charlie Hebdo
cartoons showing Muhammad, and declined to run the latest one as well,
based on its policy to avoid images designed to provoke on the basis
of religion.
In Europe, Spain's leading daily newspapers published the image online
and the state broadcaster showed it on news bulletins. In Britain, The
Times of London, the Guardian and the Independent went with the image,
while The Daily Telegraph didn't. The BBC showed the new cover on news
programs. Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel and Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung all used it on their websites.

-- 
Peace Is Doable

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