French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo is facing heat on Indian Twitter after it decided to republish a series of controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. The cartoons had culminated in a terror attack on the paper's Paris headquarters, killing 12 including some of France's renowned cartoonists.
The move to republish the cartoons earned stern reactions from Muslim scholars as well as followers of Islam from under the world. On Wednesday, Turkey slammed the newspaper, claiming that it was not possible for the Charlie Hebdo to justify the "insult to Islam" by republishing the controversial cartoons in the name of Islam.
Responding to criticism, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Friday what he called “Islamic separatism” in his country and those who seek French citizenship without accepting France’s "right to commit blasphemy."
Macron defended satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that helped inspire two French-born Islamic extremists to mount a deadly January 2015 attack on the paper’s newsroom.
While the international world debated the move, the French publication seems to be gaining unpopularity on Indian Twitter, with the hashtag #ShameOnYouCharlieHebdo trending across states.
What is Charlie Hebdo?
Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly which has from its inception been known to carry anti-establishment commentary in the form of cartoons and satires that poke fun at religion.
Why is #ShameOnYouCharlieHebdo trending?
Charlie Hebdo has been in news once again after it decided to republish a series of controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. The move came in the week leading of trial of the 2015 shootings at the newspaper's headquarters in Paris which had been a culmination of reactions against the cartoon. Following the republication of the same cartoons, several Muslim scholars, as well as practitioners of Islam, have raised questions about the decision.
#ShameOnCharlieHebdo trended in India on Friday with several Indian Muslims also joining the chorus of criticism after French President Macron defended Hebdo and France’s "right to commit blasphemy."
What are the controversial cartoons by Charlie Hebdo?
It all started when a series of 12 cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad in various offensive positions first published by the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in 2005 -- and then reprinted by Charlie Hebdo -- the French satirist weekly, known for its rebellious, anti-establishment art- in 2006. One of the cartoons featured the Prophet wearing a bomb on his head with the words 'All of that for this' as the headline in French. The cartoons unleashed a storm of anger across the Muslim world, culminating in an attack on the paper's employees in 2015. Cartoonist Jean Cabut, known as Cabu, was one of the 12 who lost their lives in the massacre.
Why did Charlie Hebdo republish the cartoons now?
Fourteen persons were accused of helping the two brothers carry out the attacks. The perpetrators were killed in the wake of the massacre following a long man-hunt. But 14 alleged accomplices in the attacks, which also targeted a Jewish supermarket, went on trial in Paris on Wednesday. The paper has maintained that now is the right to time to republish the cartoons. "We will never lie down. We will never give up," its director Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau wrote in an editorial along with the cartoons.
Is Charlie Hebdo anti-Islamic?
Before it became unpopular for its anti-Islamic cartoons, it has long criticized the Catholic religion as well as Judaism. But it was only after it republished the Danish newspapers' cartoons did it become the target of Islamist attacks. Hebdo's office had been firebombed in 2011 and the editors and cartoonists working with the paper have been in police protection since. Critics of the Hebdo, however, slammed the magazine for promoting anti-Islamic imagery and stereotypes.
The Charlie Hebdo shootings, as well as the shootings at the kosher supermarket in January in Paris, launched a wave of dread and terror across France, resulting in five days of chaos until all the attackers were killed. Following the shooting, massive protests hit the streets of France as well as other parts of the world with protesters chanting 'Je Suis Charlie' (I Am Charlie) in defense of freedom of speech.
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