(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Charlie Hebdo made a defiant return yesterday with a new issue that sold out across France in record time, as Al Qaeda posted a video claiming last week's deadly attack on its cartoonists. The satirical magazine once again featured Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on its cover under the headline "All is forgiven".
Many Parisians joined long queues outside newspaper kiosks in the pre-dawn cold to get their hands on one of 700,000 copies released in a run that will eventually total five million. "This issue is symbolic, it represents their persistence, they didn't yield in the face of terror," said Catherine Boniface, a 58-year-old doctor, disappointed to have come up empty-handed at one Paris newstand.
Al Qaeda's Yemen branch (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attack by Islamist gunmen on the Paris offices of the weekly last Wednesday that left 12 people dead including the country's best-loved cartoonists. "(AQAP) was the party that chose the target and plotted and financed the plan... It was following orders by our general chief Ayman Al Zawahiri," said one of its leaders in the video, adding it was "vengeance" for the weekly's cartoons of the Prophet. Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi who carried out the attack are known to have trained with the group.
Amedy Coulibaly, who killed a policewoman and attacked a Jewish supermarket in attacks he said were coordinated with the Kouachi brothers, has claimed links to the Islamic State group. IS described Charlie Hebdo's decision to print the cartoon as "extremely stupid".
Under government orders to crackdown on hate crimes, French prosecutors have opened over 50 cases for condoning terrorism since the attacks that claimed 17 lives, including the arrest of controversial comedian Dieudonne Mbala. He is due to stand trial after writing "I feel like Charlie Coulibaly" on Facebook - mixing the popular "Je Suis Charlie" homage to the slain journalists with a reference to the supermarket gunman.
Under France's ultra-fast-track court system, a 21-year-old in Toulouse was sent to prison for 10 months on Monday for expressing support for the jihadists while travelling on a tram.
Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported that Coulibaly bought all their weapons - including assault rifles and a rocket launcher - near the Gare du Midi station in Brussels for less than ¤5,000 ($7,000).
France bade farewell to one of its most beloved cartoonists yesterday. Cabu, 76, one of the eight journalists killed at the magazine, was buried in the Champagne region. Charlie Hebdo's surviving staff moved into the offices of Liberation newspaper to compile the new issue, which they admitted had been an emotional experience. Cartoonist Renald "Luz" Luzier said he cried after drawing the front cover.
Distributors quickly boosted the print run from an initial three million after the sales rush on Wednesday - dwarfing its normal run of around 60,000 copies, and the edition will also be available in English, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Turkish. Proceeds will go to victims' families. Charlie Hebdo, which last month did not have enough money to pay staff wages, could raise as much as ¤10m in sales and donations.
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet French President Francois Hollande tomorrow to discuss the attacks. The United States did not send a senior official to the historic march against extremism on Sunday, which the White House has admitted was a mistake.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.