Magazine's sharia special draws cries of sacrilege

A French satirical magazine was to appear today with a cartoon of its "guest editor", the Prophet Muhammad, on the front cover.

Charlie Hebdo, a fiercely secular weekly, has renamed itself Charia Hebdo for one edition to protest against the rise of Islamist political forces in Tunisia and Libya. (Charia is the French spelling of sharia.)

The cover shows a cartoon of a jolly-looking, bearded Prophet wearing a white turban and saying: "A hundred lashes if you don't die of laughter."

Advance images on the internet have brought a torrent of protests, mostly from non-Muslim French people. To publish any purported image of the Prophet is regarded as blasphemous under Islamic law.

In 2005, the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard provoked protests across the Islamic world when he published 12 satirical images of the Prophet in a Danish newspaper.

The editor of Charlie Hebdo at the time was prosecuted in France for "insulting Muslims" after reproducing the images. He was acquitted in 2007.

This week's Charlie Hebdo contains an editorial signed "Mahomet", which says, among other things: "There is no god except God, otherwise all hell will be let loose."

There is also a supplement called "Charia Madame", showing different styles of full-length veils.

The real editor-in-chief of the magazine, a cartoonist known as Charb, said the special edition had been planned to "celebrate fittingly" the victory of the Islamist Ennahda party in the Tunisian elections and the announcement that sharia law would be the foundation of post-Gaddafi Libya.

"We didn't have to go down on our knees to the Prophet of Islam [to be guest editor] and we thank him for that," a statement said.

Another cartoon shows Muhammad with a red nose and the caption: "Yes Islam and humour are compatible."

Charb said: "We are not trying to be especially provocative. We just feel we are doing our job, as usual."

The editor also pointed out that the magazine has a reputation for being equally mocking, or hostile, towards fundamentalist Catholics in France.

In "his" editorial, entitled the "halal aperitif", "Mahomet" continues: "Ennahda promises [Tunisians] that their personal freedoms will remain and it will not introduce sharia law. Ha, ha, no kidding? Why should a religious party take power except to impose its ideas."

Most comments online have been hostile.

"Why should blasphemy be the sole currency of free expression in this country?" asked Nicolas E David.

"Charlie Hebdo is being faithful to its reputation, nasty and stupid," said Taamul.

Charb responded: "Why do people only get angry when we attack religion? We are just commenting on a news story. We are not presenting Muhammad as an extremist."

- Independent