France braces for cartoon backlash
A FRENCH magazine ridiculed the Prophet Muhammad yesterday by portraying him in cartoons, threatening to fuel the anger of Muslims around the world who are already incensed by a film from the US insulting him.
The French government, which had urged the magazine not to print the images, said it was temporarily shutting down premises, including embassies and schools in 20 countries tomorrow. Protests sometimes break out after Friday Muslim prayers.
Riot police were deployed to protect the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo after it hit the news stands with a cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing the turbaned figure of Muhammad in a wheelchair. On the inside pages, several caricatures of the prophet showed him naked.
Reacting to the publication, Essam Erian, acting head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, said: “We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonour the prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people’s beliefs.”
Calling for a UN treaty against insulting religion, he added: “We condemn violence and say that peaceful protests are a right for everyone. I hope there will be a popular Western and French reaction condemning this.”
The posting of a short film on YouTube last week that mocked the prophet has sparked deadly protests in several countries.
The US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in an attack in Benghazi, and US and other foreign embassies were stormed in cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East by furious Muslims. Afghan militants said a suicide bombing that killed eight South Africans and four others on Tuesday was in retaliation for the film.
One of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, titled Muhammad: a star is born, depicted a bearded figure crouching over to display naked buttocks and genitals, a star covering his anus.
A second cartoon, in reference to the scandal over a French magazine’s decision to publish topless photos of the wife of Britain’s Prince William, showed a topless, bearded character with the caption: “Riots in Arab countries after photos of Mrs Muhammad are published.”
“We have the impression that it’s officially allowed for Charlie Hebdo to attack the Catholic far-right, but we cannot poke fun at fundamental Islamists,” said Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier, who drew the leading cartoon.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius criticised the cartoons as a provocation.
“We saw what happened last week in Libya and in other countries such as Afghanistan,” he said. “We have to call on all to behave responsibly.”
Charlie Hebdo has a long reputation for being provocative. Its Paris offices were firebombed in November last year after it published a mocking caricature of the prophet. In 2005, Danish cartoons of the prophet sparked a wave of violent protests that killed at least 50 people.
The French Muslim Council accused Charlie Hebdo of firing up anti-Muslim sentiment at a sensitive time. – Reuters