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        Paris Satire Weekly Renowned for Publishing Prophet Caricatures

   by VOA News

   The French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo had just tweeted a
   cartoon mocking Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi when
   masked gunmen burst into its Paris office Wednesday.

   Paris police said at least 12 people were killed, including two police
   officers, and another 10 people were injured, with five listed in
   critical condition.

   Charlie Hebdo, which publishes every Wednesday, is known for being
   irreverent, anti-establishment and virulently antireligious.

   It is renowned for courting controversy with satirical attacks on
   political and religious leaders and has been repeatedly threatened for
   publishing numerous cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad.

   Attack on offices

   In 2011, its offices were firebombed after it published a spoof issue
   featuring a caricature of the prophet on its cover.

   In 2012, the publication again published crude Muhammad caricatures,
   drawing denunciations from around the Muslim world. These caricatures
   forced France to temporarily close embassies and schools in more than
   20 countries amid fears of reprisals.

   Reuters reported in 2012 that Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane
   Charbonnier, who goes by the name "Charb," had been under police
   protection since the 2011 firebombing.

   "This is a satirical paper produced by left-wingers and when I say
   left-wingers that goes all the way from anarchists to communists to
   Greens, Socialists and the rest. Above all it is a secular and atheist
   newspaper," Charbonnier told Reuters at the time.

   "When we attack the Catholic hard right ... nobody talks about it in
   the papers. It's as if Charlie Hebdo has official authorization to
   attack the Catholic hard right. But we are not allowed to make fun of
   Muslim hardliners. It's the new rule ... but we will not obey it," he
   said in 2012.

   Minutes before the attack, Charlie Hebdo had tweeted a satirical New
   Year's cartoon of the extremist Islamic State group's leader that read:
   "Best wishes, by the way."

   Some material for this report came from Reuters and AP.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/charlie-hebdo-renowned-for-publishing
   -prophet-caricatures/2588803.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/charlie-hebdo-renowned-for-publishing-prophet-caricatures/2588803.html