A Tale of Two Paradigms:
Truculent Suppression ... vs ... Tolerant Free Speech
Brotherhood leader condemns Mohamed cartoons
Mohamed Saad El-Katatny urges response from Islamic institutions and French government to 'blasphemous' cartoons published in French satirical magazine
A Muslim Brotherhood leader has condemned the French magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad on its cover and naming him as guest editor.
Mohamed Saad El-Katatny described the cartoon as a heinous crime aimed at aggravating Muslims. He also slammed the magazine’s staff as “irresponsible.”
El-Katatny asked Islamic institutions, including Al-Azhar, the highest religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world, the International Union of Muslim Scholars, and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to address the responsible bodies to prevent the publication of similar cartoons in the future.
He also urged the French government to investigate the incident and take all necessary legal measures against Charlie Hebdo.
A day after the publication of the cartoon, the Paris office of the magazine was destroyed in a petrol bomb attack. The publication’s website was also hacked.
French paper reprints Mohammad cartoon after firebomb
PARIS (Reuters) - A French satirical weekly whose office was firebombed after it printed a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad has reproduced the image with other caricatures in a special supplement distributed with one of the country's leading newspapers.
The weekly Charlie Hebdo defended "the freedom to poke fun" in the four-page supplement, which was wrapped around copies of the left-wing daily Liberation Thursday, a day after an arson attack gutted Charlie Hebdo's Paris headquarters.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place hours before an edition of Charlie Hebdo hit newsstands featuring a cover-page cartoon of Mohammad and a speech bubble with the words: "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter."
The weekly, known for its irreverent treatment of the political establishment and religious figures, bore the headline "Charia Hebdo," in a reference to Muslim sharia law, and said that week's issue had been guest-edited by Mohammad.
The incident pits Europe's tradition of free speech and secularism against Islam's injunction barring any depictions seen as mocking the prophet. The publication of cartoons of Mohammad in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked unrest in the Muslim world in which at least 50 people were killed. More Here
