Charlie Hebdo Cartoonist 'Fed Up' of Caricaturing Prophet Mohammed

Rénald Luzier has rejected claims that the terrorists had won

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The cartoonist who caricatured the prophet on the cover of the magazine's "survivors' issue" says he has had enough of drawing Prophet Mohammed

The Charlie Hebdo cartoonist who drew a controversial front-page picture of Prophet Mohammed after the satirical magazine's staff were massacred says he will stop caricaturing the prophet.

Rénald Luzier, known as Luz, claims his decision is unrelated to the attack on January 7 and rejected claims that the terrorists had won.

"I will no longer draw the figure of Mohammed. He no longer interests me," he told Les Inrockuptibles magazine. "I'm fed up with him, just as I'm fed up with Sarkozy. I'm not going to spend my life drawing them."

However, commentators were sceptical that Charlie Hebdo's leading cartoonist, who has contributed to the magazine for two decades, would never draw Nicolas Sarkozy again as the former president is expected to be a candidate in the next election in 2017. » | David Chazan, Paris | Thursday, April 30, 2015

Danish Muslim Leader Who Fuelled Uproar about Prophet Muhammad Cartoons Now Says He Was Wrong and Paper Was Right to Print Images

MAIL ONLINE: Ahmad Akkari led protests against drawings to Lebanon, Egypt and Syria / Dispute over caricatures of Prophet Muhammad became international crisis / Lebanon-born Muslim leader, 35, now says the trip was 'wrong'

He was one of the most vocal critics of Danish newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked violent fury throughout the Muslim world.

But seven years on Muslim leader Ahmad Akkari has had an unexpected change of heart, declaring his decision to travel to Lebanon, Egypt and Syria to garner support for the ensuing protest was 'totally wrong'.

Lebanon-born Akkari, now 35, was the spokesman for a group of imams who led the outcry against the satirical drawings, and their tour helped to turn the dispute into an international crisis.

He now says the Jyllands-Posten newspaper had the right to print the cartoons.

His about-face has received praise from pundits and politicians in recent weeks, though some question his sincerity. It has also disappointed some in the country's Muslim minority who were deeply offended by the cartoons.

Dozens were killed in weeks of protests over the drawings that included violent attacks against Danish missions in Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Tiny Denmark found itself on a collision course with the Muslim world — something Akkari now regrets.

'I want to be clear today about the trip: It was totally wrong,' Akkari told The Associated Press this week. » | Kerry McDermott | Saturday, August 10, 2013

Christopher Hitchens Schools a Muslim on Free Speech

France to Close Schools and Embassies Fearing Mohammed Cartoon Reaction
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France is to close embassies and schools in around 20 countries on Friday due to fears of violence after a weekly satirical magazine published cartoons of a naked Prophet Mohammed.

Charlie Hebdo's decision to release the explicit cartoons sparked angry condemnation in the Muslim world, where violence over a crudely made anti-Islam film has resulted in dozens of deaths in recent days.

The French government said it would close many embassies, consulates, cultural centres and international schools on Friday due to fears they could be targeted in demonstrations after weekly Muslim prayers.

French schools in Tunisia, home to 30,000 French have already been closed until Monday as a "preventive measure", while schools and cultural centres in Egypt will close on Thursday.

Riot police on Wednesday took up positions outside the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, whose former headquarters were firebombed last November after it published an issue called Sharia Hebdo featuring Mohammed as "guest editor". The real editor has been under police protection ever since.

The magazine's website was down yesterday, with staff saying it had been hacked. A Pakistan-based group calling itself the Guardian of Honour of the Prophet, SAW claimed responsibility. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Wednesday, September 19, 2012

My comment:

Why do we need these throwbacks in our midst? All they bring us is trouble. Furthermore, they limit our freedom of expression. I, for one, object in the strongest terms to having my freedom of expression curtailed.– © Mark

French Weekly Fuels Mohammad Row with Nude Cartoons
REUTERS – INDIA: France to close schools, embassies on Friday / Security increased outside magazine's offices / French government criticises publication, boost security

PARIS - A French magazine ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday by portraying him naked in cartoons, threatening to fuel the anger of Muslims around the world who are already incensed by a film depicting him as a womanizing buffoon.

The French government, which had urged the magazine not to print the images, said it was temporarily shutting down premises including embassies and schools in 20 countries on Friday, when protests sometimes break out after Muslim prayers.

Riot police were deployed to protect the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo after it hit the news stands with a cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing the turbaned figure of Mohammad in a wheelchair. On the inside pages, several caricatures of the Prophet showed him naked.

Reacting to the publication, Essam Erian, acting head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, told Reuters: "We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonour the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people's beliefs."

Calling for a U.N. treaty against insulting religion, he added: "We condemn violence and say that peaceful protests are a right for everyone. I hope there will be a popular western and French reaction condemning this." » | Nicholas Vinocur | Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Unrest Feared: French Mag Publishes More Caricatures of Mohammed
RT.COM: A French satirical magazine has published controversial caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed on Wednesday as worldwide protests continue against a US film. France announced it would close embassies and schools in around 20 countries, fearing violence.

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published the caricatures on Wednesday, saying the illustrations would "shock those who will want to be shocked." Nude illustrations of Mohammed were included among the various caricatures in the release. Meanwhile, Russian news agency Interfax reported that Parisian kiosks sold out all copies of the magazine almost as soon as it hit the shelves. Charlie Hebdo’s website went down soon after the issue was published. » | Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Norway Convicts Two Men over Al-Qaeda Plot on Danish Newspaper
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Two men were found guilty on Monday of involvement in an al-Qaeda plot to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, the first convictions under Norway's anti-terror laws.

A third defendant was acquitted of terror charges but convicted of helping the others acquire explosives.

Investigators say the plot was linked to the same al-Qaeda planners behind thwarted attacks against the New York subway system and a shopping mall Manchester in 2009.

The Oslo district court sentenced alleged ringleader Mikael Davud, to seven years in prison and co-defendant Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak to three and a half years.

Judge Oddmund Svarteberg said the court found that Davud, a Chinese Muslim, "planned the attack together with al-Qaeda". Bujak was deeply involved in the preparations, but it couldn't be proved that he was aware of Davud's contacts with al-Qaeda, the judge said.

The third defendant, David Jakobsen, who assisted police in the investigation, was convicted on an explosives charge and sentenced to four months in prison – time he's already served in pretrial detention.

It wasn't immediately clear if any of the defendants would appeal. » | Source: AP | Monday, January 30, 2012

Westergaard Wants to Meet His Would-be Killer
BBC: Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard says he wants to meet the man accused of trying to kill him.

Mr Westergaard has been the target of at least three murder plots after drawing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban. He was attacked in his home on New Year's Day.

After spending two weeks in a safe house, he has now returned home.

Malcolm Brabant reports. Watch BBC video >>> | Tuesday, January 19, 2010

BBC: What the Muhammad cartoons portray: Twelve caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published in 2005 had a huge impact around the world, with riots in many Muslim countries the following year causing deaths and destruction - so what do the drawings actually say? >>> | Saturday, January 02, 2010

Norwegian Newspaper Reprints Prophet Mohammed Cartoons
THE TELEGRAPH: The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has reproduced the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

They were used to illustrate an article about Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist whose home was broken into by an Islamist armed with an axe a week ago.

It printed six out of the 12 drawings that infuriated Muslims around the world when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten first published them in 2005.

Several of the drawings were seen as linking Islam and its revered prophet to terrorism and suicide bombings, with Westergaard's cartoon showing him wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb. >>> | Friday, January 08, 2010

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad Cartoons

Panic Room Saved Artist Kurt Westergaard from Islamist Assassin
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Just when Denmark thought the worst was over, Islamic fury has come back to haunt it with an assassination attempt on the artist whose cartoon of the prophet Muhammad as a suicide bomber had an explosive impact four years ago on the Muslim world.

An axe-wielding Somali extremist broke into the home of Kurt Westergaard on Friday night as the 75-year-old cartoonist was looking after Stephanie, his five-year-old granddaughter.

Westergaard, whose little ink drawing of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban sparked riots throughout the Middle East in 2006, has received numerous death threats. He pressed an alarm button to summon police when the attacker entered the house in Aarhus, Denmark’s second city, by breaking a window.

He did not have time to collect the child from the living room before locking himself into a “panic room”, a specially fortified bathroom. He said the assailant had shouted “swear words, really crude words” and shrieked about “blood” and “revenge”, as he smashed the axe in vain against the bathroom door. >>> Matthew Campbell | Sunday, January 03, 2010

Denmark Drops Cartoon Murder Plot Charges
REUTERS: COPENHAGEN - Danish prosecutors on Wednesday dropped charges against a Moroccan-born man accused of plotting to murder one of 12 cartoonists whose drawings of the Prophet Mohammad caused worldwide uproar in 2006.

"Even though there is information of a connection between the 40-year-old and the planners of the plot to murder Kurt Westergaard, it is not possible to submit sufficient evidence in court that he took part in the planning," prosecutor Elsemette Casoe said, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.

Westergaard, 73, drew the cartoon that caused most controversy, depicting the founder of Islam with a bomb in his turban. He told Ritzau he accepted the prosecutor's decision but wanted Denmark to deport two other suspects still in detention who are fighting deportation to their native Tunisia. Denmark Drops Cartoon Murder Plot Charges >>> | July 9, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Denmark)