The office of a French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, was attacked on January 7 by gunmen carrying Kalashnikovs and a rocket launcher. The open gun fire has left 12 dead and 11 injured. The three gunmen dressed in black hoods are still at large.
The editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stephane Charbonnier, was among the 12 people who were killed in this terrorist attack. He worked as a cartoonist with the magazine before taking over the top job in 2009.
Charb, as he is also called, has been known for his remarks about Islam. His cartoons were featured under a heading Charb n'aime pas les gens, meaning 'Charlie does not like people'. He also used to deliver a monthly chronic called La fatwa de l'Ayatollah Charb ('The Fatwa of the Ayotallah Charb'). Charlie Hebdo has a long history of publishing satirical cartoons about Islam, something that invited criticism from several quarters. Charb's works were considered extremely irreverent and contemptuous. He was given police protection for the last few years because he was getting threat calls for his cartoons published.
In November 2011, Charlie Hebdo published a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad where he is depicted saying "A hundred lashes to you if you do not die laughing." The magazine, that was titled Charia Hebde (a word play with Sharia Law) also featured Muhammad as the guest-editor. This created a furore, and just a day before the magazine was to be released, it was fire bombed and their website was hacked.
Reacting to this attack, Charb was reportedly quoted saying, "Stupid people who don't know what Islam is" have carried out this deed.
In September 2012, in an interview to LeMonde, a French Daily, Charb was asked if Islam should be continued to made fun of. To this he replied, "For a satirical weekly, yes. We must continue until Islam is as commonplace as Catholicism." In the same interview, he defended his drawings of provoking violence by saying, "I do not feel to kill someone with a pen. I do not put lives in danger."
He has also been quoted saying in 2012, "Muhammad isn't scared of me. I don't blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings. I live under French law. I don't live under Quornaic Law."
Charb believed that he had no kids, no wife, no car, no credit, and that he would "prefer to die standing than live on their knees."
On New Year, Charlie Hebdo had an illustration that depicted the frequent threats they were receiving. It read, "Still no attack in France! Wait! We can send best wishes till end of January!" Just a week after this was published, the office was attacked and 12 people died in it.
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