French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo’s executive offices were firebombed last week after the release of an issue “guest edited” by the one and only Muhammed himself. (“100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter!”)
Shortly after the firebombing Charlie Hebdo’s website was taken over by a Turkish hackers group, who left the threatening message “You keep abusing Islam’s almighty Prophet with disgusting and disgraceful cartoons using excuses of freedom of speech…Be God’s Curse On You! We Will be Your Curse on Cyber World!”
The editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stéphane Charbonnier, said at the time: “We thought the lines had moved and maybe there would be more respect for our satirical work, our right to mock. Freedom to have a good laugh is as important as freedom of speech.”
But the whole firebombing incident didn’t stop Charlie Hebdo from getting its next issue out this time featuring Muhammed in a big ole mano a mano kiss with Charlie Hebdro itself with a caption reading: L’Amour plus fort que la haine (“Love is stronger than hate.”) in retaliation.
French politicians and the media have come came out in support of the magazine’s right to free speech, while French Muslim groups have decried racism.