Depictions of Muhammad are prohibited in Islam. Blasphemy may be punishable by death in Pakistan.
In the Pakistani cities of Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi, angry Muslims gathered. The protests were organized by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP), a radical Islamist movement. “Publishing the cartoons is tantamount to terrorism. They repeat this blasphemy every few years, which has to stop,” Razi Hussani, a local TLP leader told Reuters.
The TLP party was also the driving force behind protest marches in Pakistan in 2018 against Geert Wilders’ plan to hold a cartoon competition about the prophet Mohammed. The 2015 protests following the publication of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons turned into violence as protesters stormed the French embassy in Karachi.
The Pakistani government has also condemned the republishing of the cartoons.
Process
The satirical magazine published the cartoons for a second time since this week trial about the attack began. The thirteen drawings show the prophet Mohammed with, among other things, a bomb on his head instead of a turban.
On January 7, 2015, brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi killed 12 people at the weekly newspaper. Two days later they were shot by the French police. Fourteen possible accomplices will be on trial from tomorrow. They are suspected, among other things, of transporting weapons and financing terrorism.
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