French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office attacked by terrorists

The French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office was attacked by three masked gunmen on 7 January 2015. At least 12 persons were killed in the attack.

The killed persons include Editor-in-Chief Stephane Charbonnie (known as Charb) and cartoonists Jean ‘Cabu’ Cabut (known as Cabu), Tignous and Wolinski, as well as Charlie Hebdo contributor and French economist Bernard Maris.

This was the deadliest terror attack of France since 1961, when right-wingers bombed a train, killing 28 people.

Why Charlie Hebdo was attacked?

The organization was attacked for its satire edition of 2011 in which it listed the Prophet Mohammed as editor-in-chief and featured cartoons. In retaliation, the office was burned in firebombing in November 2011 and its website was hacked.

Charlie Hebdo was a target of Islamist extremists since 2006, when they published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, the holiest figure of Islam.

History of Charlie Hebdo’s Controversies

Charlie Hebdo, a weekly French satirical news magazine that is being published since 1970 (had break between 1981 and 1992) is mainly known for its controversial provocative cartoons and caricatures. In past, its articles have targeted the extreme right, Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, politics, culture and others. The magazine has also targeted former Pope Benedict XVI and Orthodox Jews.

In 2012, editor of the magazine, Stephane Charbonnier described the newspaper as left-wing, secular and atheist and pushed free speech limits until his death due to his believe in freedom of expression in France.