JAN 13 - FRANCE
The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo will publish a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed along with the words "All is forgiven" Wednesday on the cover of its first issue since Islamist militants killed 12 people at its central Paris offices.
In a further show of defiance, the fearless magazine announced it would print three million copies – not the usual 60,000 – when it reappears on newsstands on Wednesday.
Daily newspaper Liberation, which hosted Charlie Hebdo staff as they prepared the new issue, published the Charlie Hebdo cover online late Monday night.
The cartoon shows a bearded man in a white turban with a tear streaming down his cheek, and holding a sign reading “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”). Overhead was the phrase: “Tout est Pardonné” (“All is Forgiven”), which French media interpreted as meaning Mohammed is forgiving the cartoonists for lampooning him.
Charlie Hebdo ’s past caricatures of the Muslim prophet appear to have prompted last week’s attacks, part of the worst terrorist rampage in France in decades.
Some witnesses reported that the attackers at the paper’s offices shouted “We have avenged the prophet.” Many Muslims believe all images of the prophet are blasphemous.
Earlier Monday, Charlie Hebdo lawyer Richard Malka told French radio that the new issue would “obviously” feature cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
A total of 17 people died in last week’s attacks. Brothers Chérif and Said Kouachi and their friend, Amédy Coulibaly, were killed Friday by police after the murderous spree at Charlie Hebdo offices and a kosher supermarket in the southeast of the capital. The three all claimed ties to Islamic extremists in the Middle East.
French police said Monday that as many as six members of a terrorist cell involved in the attacks may still be at large.
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