Offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French humour magazine burned early Wednesday, the day it published an issue with a cover with Prophet Mohammed picture appearing to make fun of Islamic law.

Paris / NationalTurk – The Charlie Hebdo magazine’s latest edition was ‘guest edited’ by the Islam Prophet Mohammed and featured articles on Sharia law. The cover has a bearded and turbaned cartoon figure of the Prophet Mohammed and it is accompanied by the slogan ‘100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter’, and the issue is renamed “Charia Hebdo,” a reference to Islamic law, or sharia. There were also features on ‘soft Sharia’, concentrating on the emergence of Islamic parties in Tunisia and Libya following the Arab Spring revolutions.

Prophet Mohammed picture = you get torched

It also has a women’s section called ‘Sharia Madame’, which concentrates on Islamic veils, which were recently banned in France.
There are around six million Muslims living in France – the largest Muslim population in western Europe. The magazine’s website was also hacked, with messages appearing in English and Turkish denouncing its journalists for causing widespread offence. The hackers identified themselves by “Cyber-Warrior TIM” claiming to be from Akincilar, ‘for Islam, Özet geç lan piç,’ The hacked redirect page says, “You keep abusing Islam’s almighty Prophet with disgusting and disgraceful cartoons using excuses of freedom of speech.”The hacking group does not claim to be responsible for the physical attacks on the building in its statement.

Armed police were this morning surrounding the charred remains of the building, which is close to a number of housing estates in Paris where the occupants are predominantly Muslim. There are around six million Muslims living in France – the largest Muslim population in western Europe.

‘The attackers concentrated on the computer system, literally melting it. The offices were empty so nobody was injured, but thousands of euros worth of damage were caused.’  Charlie Hebdo’s editor-in-chief, a cartoonist known only as Charb, said. He added ‘We no longer have a newspaper. All our equipment has been destroyed or has melted.’

‘We could not put a paper together today, but we will do everything possible to produce one next week. ‘Whatever happens, we’ll do it. There is no question of giving up.’ The executive, identified on CNN affiliate BFM-TV as “Charb,” expressed outrage at the attack.
“The arsonist didn’t read this magazine — no one knows what’s in this magazine except for the ones who will buy it this morning,” he said.
“People acted violently over a magazine where they don’t even know the content. This is what is most deviant and dumb,” Charb said.

Charlie Hebdo Cartoons: Love for Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed

The editor of Charlie Hebdo was prosecuted after reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005, but was later acquitted. Many regularly complain about discrimination in a country where racial and religious tensions often boil to the surface in riots. Six years ago, Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard provoked anger across the Islamic world when he published 12 satirical images of the Prophet in a Danish newspaper. The then editor of Charlie Hebdo was prosecuted in France for ‘insulting Muslims’ after he reproduced those images, but he was acquitted in 2007.

Despite this morning’s attack, the special edition of Charlie Hebdo was still on newsstands this morning, complete with an editorial ‘by the Prophet’ on Hallal drinks.

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant expressed the support of the nation for the magazine. ‘ ‘The freedom of the press is a sacred freedom for French people. Everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this attack,’ he underlined with the unawareness of Mohammed being super sacred for Muslims.

Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, “strongly condemned this act of violence.’  ‘We may not agree with this week’s edition of Charlie Hebdo, but we are in a society that needs freedom of expression, and any violence that undermines this freedom is absolutely unacceptable ‘ he stated . He offered to help Charlie Hebdo find other offices “in order to support the newspaper and its freedom. ”

France has been wracked by tensions over its rapidly growing Muslim minority

The country banned the wearing of Islamic veils and other face coverings earlier this year, claiming they were both degrading and a security risk. Belgium has passed similar legislation, and Switzerland banned the building of minarets, the tall spires which often stand next to mosques.

Muslims around the world have demonstrated over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and some of the cartoonists have been attacked or threatened. Islam generally bans depictions of its founder.

The French magazine received threats after it announced an edition guest-edited by the Prophet Mohammed and dedicated to the Arab Spring, Charb told BFM.

“I don’t think Islam is a taboo subject, I think we have the right to talk about anything,” the man who hides behind a nickname offered.