Charlie Hebdo: First edition since attack published with Prophet Muhammed cartoon

Paris, Jan 14: French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday published its first edition since Islamist gunmen killed 12 people in an attack on its offices, with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, considered as unIslamic by Muslims, on the cover.

Three million copies of the weekly, featuring on the front page slogan "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") under the headline "All is forgiven", have been printed.

The magazine was sold out in many parts of the capital minutes after going on sale. "Je suis Charlie" is the slogan taken up by millions of supporters in France and around the world after eight of the magazine's journalists and cartoonists and four other people were shot dead last week.

The gunmen who carried out the attack appear to have been motivated by the magazine publishing cartoons of the prophet in the past. There are no other depictions of the prophet in the new edition, but many of the cartoons lampoon Islamist gunmen.

The print run dwarfs Charlie Hebdo's normal run of around 60,000 copies, and the edition will also be available in English, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Turkish.

"It was incredible. I had a queue of 60-70 people waiting for me when I opened at 5.45 am. I've never seen anything like it. All my 450 copies were sold out in 15 minutes," said a woman working at a kiosk in Gambetta metro station in Paris.

The magazine's surviving staff moved into the offices of Liberation newspaper to compile the edition, which they admitted had been an emotional experience.

Cartoonist Renald "Luz" Luzier said he cried after drawing the front cover. Some Muslims feel any depiction of the prophet is sacrilege, and Egypt's state-backed Islamic authority Dar al-Ifta denounced "an unjustified provocation against the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims."

AFP