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Charlie Hebdo editor says the paper is done with prophet Mohammed cartoons

 
Published July 17, 2015

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Closing door on cartoons of Mohammed

The top editor and publisher of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French newspaper that suffered a deadly terrorist attack in January, said the publication would no longer draw the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that have garnered it notoriety.

"We have drawn Mohammed to defend the principle that one can draw whatever one wants," said Laurent Sourisseau, in an interview this week with Stern, a German magazine.

But Sourisseau, who goes by the cartoonist nickname "Riss," said it was not Charlie Hebdo's intent to be "possessed" by its critique of Islam. "The mistakes you could blame Islam for can be found in other religions," he said.

On Jan. 7, two Islamist militants stormed Charlie Hebdo's Paris offices, killing 12 of its journalists. According to statements made later by al-Qaida's branch in Yemen, which claimed responsibility for the attack, they were punishing the newspaper for its mocking depiction of Mohammed, images of whom are considered blasphemous in Islam.

The tragedy placed the publication at the center of the global debate over the right to freedom of speech.

Washington Post