Emmanuel Macron said it was up to French citizens to show mutual respect (Archive)
Beirut:
French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that it was not his place to judge the decision of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to republish the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, saying that France has freedom of expression.
But Macron, speaking during a visit to Lebanon, said it is incumbent on French citizens to show mutual courtesy and respect, and to avoid a “hate dialogue.”
The magazine republished the cartoons on the eve of a Paris trial of suspected accomplices in a 2015 attack on the magazine’s offices by armed Islamist terrorists that killed 12 people.
When first published by Charlie Hebdo and other publications, the cartoons unleashed a wave of anger in the Muslim world. For Muslims, any representation of the Prophet is blasphemous.
Before the attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices, online terrorists had warned that the magazine would pay to publish the cartoons.
“It is never the place of a president of the Republic to judge the editorial choice of a journalist or newsroom, never. Because we have freedom of the press,” Macron said.
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