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PARIS, KOMPAS.com – The weekly French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, which reprints the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in its latest edition, sold out within a day.
The issue, released on Wednesday (2/9/2020), features dozens of cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad, including images that sparked huge protests when first published.
Charlie Hebdo distributed three times its normal print quota on Wednesday and sold out in one day.
Also read: Charlie Hebdo magazine announces reprint of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
Even for many enthusiasts, Charlie Hebdo will publish an additional 200,000 copies that will be available on French newsstands from Saturday (9/5/2020).
“This shows that we are supported, that freedom of expression, secularism and blasphemy are not old-fashioned values, and that they are supported by the French public who buy them,” said the cartoonist for the magazine under the pseudonym of Juin when contacted. AFP.
A total of 12 people, including several well-known French cartoonists, were killed on January 7, 2015, when Said and Cherif Kouachi opened fire indiscriminately on the magazine’s Paris office.
Also read: Charlie Hebdo magazine will reprint cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, this is the attitude of the French president
“We will never give up. We will never give up,” wrote President Laurent “Riss” Sourisseau in Wednesday’s editorial titled “All this, just for that.”
The decision to reprint the cartoon angered Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, as well as Egypt’s supreme Muslim authority, Al Azhar.
On Friday (4/9/2020) thousands of people gathered in anti-French demonstrations across Pakistan. The protesters call for the boycott and expulsion of the French ambassador.
Also read: Pakistan condemns Charlie Hebdo magazine’s plans to reprint cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
Charlie Hebdo, however, defended his decision in the editorial, citing reasons why the reissue of the cartoon was “important.”
“We work on the principle that some people don’t know about the cartoon, some were not even born when Charlie published it in 2006, and they need to understand why the attack happened,” Juin said.
“The right to blasphemy and freedom of opinion exists if we use it. For us, the reprinting of cartoons is justified, because it shows that these rights still exist and allows us to defend them,” he added.
Also read: Al Azhar Egypt criticizes the reissue of the cartoon of the prophet Muhammad by Charlie Hebdo
