Al-Qaeda admits Charlie Hebdo attack
Satirical paper swells print run to 5 million
PARIS: France ordered prosecutors around the country yesterday to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism, announcing that 54 people had been arrested for those offenses since the Paris terror attacks.
Meanwhile al-Qaeda in Yemen admitted responsibility for the attack on Charlie Hebdo in a video posted online, saying it was “vengeance” for the French weekly’s cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
“We, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula [AQAP], claim responsibility for this operation as vengeance for the messenger of Allah,” one of the group’s leaders, Nasser al-Ansi, said in the video titled: “A message regarding the blessed battle of Paris.”
AQAP was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of al-Qaeda. Washington regards it as the worldwide jihadist network’s most dangerous branch and has carried out a sustained drone war against its leaders.
Mr Ansi said the attack was ordered by Ayman Zawahiri, t he network’s global commander.
“The leadership [of AQAP] was the party that chose the target and financed the plan ... following orders by our general chief Ayman al-Zawahiri,” he said.
“The heroes were chosen and they answered the call,” he said.
Speaking over footage of the attack that killed 12 people, Mr Ansi said: “Today the mujahideen avenge their revered prophet and send the clearest message to everyone who would dare to attack Islamic sanctities.”
Charlie Hebdo’s defiant new issue sold out before dawn around Paris on Wednesday, with scuffles at kiosks over dwindling copies of the magazine showing the Prophet Mohammed on the front. In the city still shaken by the deaths of 17 people at the hands of Islamic extremists, a controversial comic who appeared to be praising the men was taken into custody.
The core of the irreverent newspaper’s staff perished a week ago when gunmen stormed its offices, killing 12. Those who survived put out the issue that appeared on newsstands yesterday, working out of borrowed offices, with a print run of 3 million — more than 50 times the usual circulation. It has been reported the magazine will now increase the print run to 5 million copies and sell overseas and in English because of overwhelming demand, the distributors said. The Islamic State group’s radio yesterday described French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s publication of a new cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed as an “extremely stupid” act.
“Charlie Hebdo has again published cartoons insulting the prophet and this is an extremely stupid act,” said a statement read on Al-Bayan radio, which the jihadist group broadcasts in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq.
A man claiming to be the leader of the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram expressed support for the attackers.
“We are very happy with what happened at the heart of France with the pains incurred on French people,” the purported leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, said in an eight-minute video posted on YouTube that couldn’t immediately be verified. “Oh you French people ... who follow the religion of democracy, between you and us is enmity to eternity,” said the man, speaking in Arabic and holding an AK-47 assault rifle.
Iran also condemned the publication, saying it was “insulting” and “provocative”.
The magazine cover “provokes the emotions of Muslims and hurts their feelings around the world and could fan the flame of a vicious circle of extremism,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham. The storming of the newspaper was the opening salvo of three days of terror and bloodshed in the Paris region, ending when security forces killed all three gunmen on Friday.
“I’ve never bought it before. It’s not quite my political stripes, but it’s important for me to buy it today and support freedom of expression,” said David Sullo, standing at the end of a queue of two dozen people at a kiosk in central Paris.
France’s government was preparing tougher anti-terrorism measures and there are growing signs that authorities are ready to use current laws to their fullest extent. Yesterday’s detention of French comedian Dieudonne for defending terrorism followed a four-year prison sentence involving the same charge for a man in northern France who seemed to defend the attacks in a drunken rant.
French police say as many as six members of a terrorist cell that carried out the Paris attacks may still be at large, including a man seen driving a car registered to the widow of one of the gunmen. The country has deployed 10,000 troops to protect sensitive sites, including Jewish schools and synagogues, mosques and travel hubs.
Dieudonne, who popularised an arm gesture that resembles a Nazi salute and who has been convicted repeatedly of racism and anti-Semitism, is no stranger to controversy. His provocative performances were banned last year but he has a core following among many of France’s disaffected young people.
His Facebook post, which was swiftly deleted, said he felt like “Charlie Coulibaly” — merging the names of Charlie Hebdo and Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who seized a kosher market and killed four hostages after shooting dead a policewoman.