A Recap of the French Newspaper Shootings
January 23, 2015
PARIS – The French magazine Charlie Hebdo is the French equivalent of Mad Magazine. It released satirical comics and stories purely for entertainment purposes. Until this month, when everything changed . . .
Recently, there was an attack at the paper’s headquarters where the editor and several cartoonists were shot. This attack – which has been categorized as an attack on the freedom of press – was purportedly said to have been prompted by a satirical picture of Islam’s greatest prophet – Mohammed. The cover from November 3, 2011 had a cartoon picture of Mohammed, with a caption that read “100 lashes if you do not die laughing!”
Why would the attack occur just based on this picture and quote? Well, a part from the fact that jihadists believe anyone who is not a Muslim is an infidel, one of Islam’s tenets is that there are no pictures of the prophet. Ever. Thus, these terrorists thought that their actions were justified.
On the 7th of this month, the terrorists entered the editorial offices and killed twelve: eleven workers and a policeman. The assailants – known as the Kouachi brothers – then fled to a signage plant, of which the owner called police. At around 5:00 PM the next day, the brothers were gunned down.
In the aftermath of this incident – the next issue of Charlie Hebdo sold out of 7,000,000 copies – instead of their customary 60,000.