MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) French regional daily La Nouvelle Republic has received online threats after it reprinted cartoons depicting Muslim prophet Muhammad in a tribute to brutally murdered French teacher Samuel Paty, the paper's managing editor, Christophe Herigault, told the BFMTV broadcaster on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the newspaper reprinted one of the caricatures of prophet Muhammad from the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, whose editorial staff had been subjected to a terrorist attack in Paris in January 2015. The Charlie Hebdo attack left 17 people killed, including 12 workers at the magazine.
"[There were] several threats, four or five unequivocal messages, in particular, on Facebook, which forced us to file a complaint as a matter of principle," Herigault said.
According to the editor, the majority of reactions to the republication of the cartoon were positive. He stressed that the publication's goal was not to provoke anything or anyone but rather "shout our anger" in the face of the Islamist threat.
Last week, history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by an 18-year-old teenager in the outskirts of Paris after he showed cartoons depicting prophet Muhammad during a lesson. This apparently prompted outrage among some Muslim parents. The killer, a French citizen of Chechen descent, was subsequently shot dead by police. An inquiry is still underway, with seven more suspects being tried on Wednesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron declared the attack a terrorist act and unveiled a strategy to combat�the spread of radical islam. He has ordered a tightening of security measures in French schools after the fall break and dissolution of groups spreading ideas linked to radical Islam.
