French satirical paper reprints offensive Prophet cartoons

The French satirical paper whose staff was decimated in a violent attack by Islamic extremists in 2015 is reprinting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed cited by the killers, declaring "history cannot be rewritten nor erased." The announcement on Tuesday came on the eve of the first trial for the January 2015 attacks against Charlie Hebdo and, two days later, a kosher supermarket.

The killings touched off a wave of violence claimed by the Islamic State group across Europe. Seventeen people died - 12 of them at the editorial offices - along with all three attackers.

Thirteen men and a

The announcement on Tuesday came on the eve of the first trial for the January 2015 attacks against Charlie Hebdo and, two days later, a kosher supermarket

woman accused of providing the attackers with weapons and logistics go on trial Wednesday.

In an editorial this week accompanying the caricatures, the paper best known for vulgar irreverence said that although it had declined to publish caricatures of Mohammed since the attacks, doing so for the opening of the trial was necessary.

"The only reasons not to stem from political or journalistic cowardice," the editorial said.

As the attackers, brothers Chérif and Said Kouachi, walked away from the carnage, they cried out "We have avenged the Prophet." Claiming the attacks in the name of al-Qaida, they then killed a wounded policeman point-blank and drove away.