Charlie Hebdo’s history of provocation: From Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Prophet Muhammad
Charlie Hebdo’s history of provocation: From Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Prophet Muhammad
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is at it again. This time it has angered Iran over the publication of caricatures of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader.
The weekly publication carried cartoons mocking the Islamic nation’s highest religious and political figure, as it launched a competition in support of Iran’s unprecedented women-led protests which started in September after the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old, who was detained for wearing the hijab “incorrectly”.
The publication of the Khamenei cartoons has snowballed into a diplomatic row with Iran summoning French ambassador Nicolas Roche.
Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote on Twitter, “The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response.”
“We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path,” he added.
However, this is not the first time the French magazine, which some dub needlessly provocative, is in trouble over its cartoons. We take a look at its controversial publications, which have often led to grave consequences.
The 12 Prophet Muhammad cartoons and protests
On 30 September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons with an article titled “Muhammeds ansigt (The face of Muhammad)”. It claimed that they were a commentary on self-censorship in the Danish media. These caricatures were reprinted by Charlie Hebdo the following year.
After the cartoons were first carried, they were criticised around the world for being blasphemous and furthering stereotypes about Muslims as terrorists. They triggered violent protests across Asia and the Middle East with many calling for a boycott of Danish goods.
The cartoons that triggered a terror attack
The weekly’s regular publication of cartoons on Prophet Muhammad left many in the Muslim world outraged. On 7 January 2015, terrorists stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris and killed 12 people and injured at least 11.
The brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, went on a gun rampage attacking several cartoonists, including some of France’s most celebrated.
The next day, Amedy Coulibaly, an acquaintance of Cherif Kouachi killed a woman police officer. On 9 January, he killed four Jewish men at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris.
The three attackers were killed by police in separate encounters.
In a video recording, Coulibaly said the attacks were coordinated and carried out in the name of the Islamic State. The Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabic Peninsula claimed the Charlie Hebdo attack, reports Reuters.
In September 2020, the weekly republished the controversial cartoons ahead of the trial of suspects who provided support to the Kouachi brothers.
In India, #ShameOnCharlieHebdo trended on Twitter after the republication of the cartoons with several Muslims also joining the chorus of criticism following Frace’s defence of Hebdo and the country’s “right to commit blasphemy.”
In an editorial note accompanying the 2020 edition, publishing director Laurent ‘Riss’ Sourisseau, who sustained injuries in the 2015 attack, wrote, “We will never give up. The hatred that struck us is still there and, since 2015, it has taken the time to mutate, to change its appearance, to go unnoticed and to quietly continue its ruthless crusade.”
The Prophet “editor-in-chief” cartoon
On 2 November 2011, the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris were destroyed in a petrol bomb attack, a day after it named Prophet Muhammad as its “editor-in-chief” for an upcoming issue. The magazine cover carried a caricature making a flippant comment.
The then French prime minister Francois Fillon described the petrol-bombing as an unjustifiable attack on the freedom of the press.
The Erdogan caricature
An October 2020 edition of the weekly had a cover which depicted Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan looking up a woman’s skirt while drinking beer in his underpants. It was headlined, “Erdogan: He’s very funny in private.”
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo responds to President of Turkey #Erdoğan after he attacked France. pic.twitter.com/eCjixtGit6
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 27, 2020
The Turkish president said he had no words for those at the magazine. “I don’t need to say anything to those scoundrels who insult my beloved Prophet on such a scale,” he said. His office vowed to take “legal and diplomatic action” while Turkey’s NTV television said Ankara had also summoned the second-most senior diplomat at the French embassy to express its “strong condemnation”.
The front cover cartoon was published just days after Erdoğan called for a boycott of French products and questioned President Emmanuel Macron’s sanity for promoting a drive against Islamic extremism, according to a report by the news agency AFP.
The racist cartoons on Meghan Markle
Days after the explosive Ophrah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Charlie Hebdo’s front page featured Queen Elizabeth II.
The cartoon showed the monarch kneeling on the Duchess of Sussex’s neck with the headline “Why Meghan left Buckingham Palace”…. with a speech bubble “Because I couldn’t breathe”.
The cover kicked up a storm as it drew a parallel with the death of African-American resident George Floyd who was killed by a cop who kneeled on his neck. Floyd’s last words were, “I can’t breathe.”
The cartoon was criticised for being racist and many loyalists of the Royal family were upset that it showed the Queen in a derogatory light – with red-eyes and hairy legs, gurning.
Halima Begum, CEO of race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust, said the cartoon was “wrong on every level.”
#CharlieHebdo, this is wrong on every level. The Queen as #GeorgeFloyd's murderer crushing Meghan's neck? #Meghan saying she's unable to breathe? This doesnt push boundaries, make anyone laugh or challenge #racism. It demeans the issues & causes offence, across the board. pic.twitter.com/ptNXs8RtuS
— Dr Halima Begum (@Halima_Begum) March 13, 2021
“The Queen as George Floyd’s murderer crushing Meghan’s neck? Meghan saying she’s unable to breathe? This doesn’t push boundaries, make anyone laugh or challenge racism. It demeans the issues & causes offence, across the board,” she tweeted.
Carlie Hebdo’s cartoons on race, religion, and politics have often tested the limits of what society would accept in the name of free speech. It has gone after politicians, pop stars, and even gods. And it continues to poke and provoke… no matter the consequences.
With inputs from agencies
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