Defiant 'Charlie Hebdo' staff defends Mohammed cover

 


"It's not the front page the world wanted us to do," said Luzier. "But it's the front page we wanted. It's not the front page a terrorist would have wanted us to do — there are no terrorists on there."
Luzier, who broke down in tears several times during the news conference, said, "There's just a guy who's crying. It's Mohammed. I am sorry, we drew him again. But this Mohammed is, above everything else, a man in tears."
He said he conferred with other Charlie cartoonists, past and present, about what to draw and decided it should not be heavy and weighty, but should be something "that makes us laugh."
"Then the idea came to draw Mohammed and I looked at the drawing I did of him and he was crying," he added, visibly shaken. "And then above it I wrote, "All is forgiven," then I cried, and that was our cover."
New Charlie Hebdo editor in chief Gerard Biard, recalled the reaction by staff when they saw the cover.
"When Luz showed us the drawing we all burst into laughter and jumped in each other's arms," he said. "We knew we needed to figure out how to continue to laugh and make others laugh."


This week's edition is the first since two gunmen opened fire on an editorial meeting of the newspaper last week, killing much of the editorial staff, including well-known French cartoonists. Two police officers were also killed in the attack that left 12 people dead and shocked the country.
More 1.5 million people — including many world leaders — turned out in a show of solidarity Sunday, many carrying a sign containing the "I am Charlie" phrase.

The new issue includes drawings by the slain cartoonists. One shows a much-loved late French nun talking about oral sex. Another shows a Muslim, Christian and Jewish leader dividing up the world.
One by Bernard "Tignous" Verlhac depicts two Muslim jihadists, with one saying: "We shouldn't attack Charlie Hebdo people." The other replies: "(yeah), they will become martyrs and once in paradise, will steal all our virgins."
The newspaper is printing 3,000,000 copies of the issue, a huge increase over the normal circulation of 60,000. The publishers will also put out editions in English, Arabic and Turkish.