Charlie Hebdo attack

On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 a.m. CET local time, two French Muslim terrorists and brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper ''Charlie Hebdo'' in Paris. Armed with rifles and other weapons, they murdered 12 people and injured 11 others. The gunmen identified themselves as belonging to the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which took responsibility for the attack. Several related attacks followed in the Île-de-France region on 7–9 January 2015, including the Hypercacher kosher supermarket siege, where a terrorist murdered four Jewish people.

France raised its Vigipirate terror alert and deployed soldiers in Île-de-France and Picardy. A major manhunt led to the discovery of the suspects, who exchanged fire with police. The brothers took hostages at a signage company in Dammartin-en-Goële on 9 January and were shot dead when they emerged from the building firing.

On 11 January, about two million people, including more than 40 world leaders, met in Paris for a rally of national unity, and 3.7 million people joined demonstrations across France. The phrase ''Je suis Charlie'' became a common slogan of support at rallies and on social media. The staff of ''Charlie Hebdo'' continued with the publication, and the following issue print ran 7.95 million copies in six languages, compared to its typical print run of 60,000 in French only.

''Charlie Hebdo'' is a publication that has always courted controversy with satirical attacks on political and religious leaders. It published cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 2012, forcing France to temporarily close embassies and schools in more than 20 countries amid fears of reprisals. Its offices were firebombed in November 2011 after publishing a previous caricature of Muhammad on its cover.

On 16 December 2020, 14 people who were accomplices to both the Charlie Hebdo and Jewish supermarket attackers were convicted. However, three of these accomplices were still not yet captured and were tried in absentia.

Background

''Charlie Hebdo'' satirical works

''Charlie Hebdo'' (French for ''Charlie Weekly'') is a French satirical weekly newspaper that features cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication, irreverent and stridently non-conformist in tone, is strongly secularist, antireligious, and left-wing, publishing articles that mock Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, and various other groups as local and world news unfolds. The magazine was published from 1969 to 1981 and has been again from 1992 on.

''Charlie Hebdo'' has a history of attracting controversy. In 2006, Islamic organisations under French hate speech laws unsuccessfully sued over the newspaper's re-publication of the ''Jyllands-Posten'' cartoons of Muhammad. The cover of a 2011 issue retitled '' Charia Hebdo'' (French for ''Sharia Weekly''), featured a cartoon of Muhammad, whose depiction is forbidden in most interpretations of Islam, with some Persian exceptions. The newspaper's office was fire-bombed and its website hacked. In 2012, the newspaper published a series of satirical cartoons of Muhammad, including nude caricatures; this came days after a series of violent attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East, purportedly in response to the anti-Islamic film ''Innocence of Muslims'', prompting the French government to close embassies, consulates, cultural centres, and international schools in about 20 Muslim countries. Riot police surrounded the newspaper's offices to protect it against possible attacks.

Cartoonist Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier had been the director of publication of ''Charlie Hebdo'' since 2009. Two years before the attack he stated, "We have to carry on until Islam has been rendered as banal as Catholicism." In 2013, al-Qaeda added him to its most wanted list, along with three ''Jyllands-Posten'' staff members: Kurt Westergaard, Carsten Juste, and Flemming Rose. Being a sport shooter, Charb applied for permit to be able to carry a firearm for self-defence. The application went unanswered.

Numerous violent plots related to the ''Jyllands-Posten'' cartoons were discovered, primarily targeting cartoonist Westergaard, editor Rose, and the property or employees of ''Jyllands-Posten'' and other newspapers that printed the cartoons. Westergaard was the subject of several attacks and planned attacks, and lived under police protection for the rest of his life. On 1 January 2010, police used guns to stop a would-be assassin in his home, who was sentenced to nine years in prison. In 2010, three men based in Norway were arrested on suspicion of planning a terror attack against ''Jyllands-Posten'' or Kurt Westergaard; two of them were convicted. In the United States, David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were convicted in 2013 of planning terrorism against ''Jyllands-Posten''.

Secularism and blasphemy

In France, blasphemy law ceased to exist with progressive emancipation of the Republic from the Catholic Church between 1789 and 1830. In France, the principle of secularism (''laïcité'' – the separation of church and state) was enshrined in the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, and in 1945 became part of the constitution. Under its terms, the government and all public administrations and services must be religion-blind and their representatives must refrain from any display of religion, but private citizens and organisations are free to practise and express the religion of their choice where and as they wish (although discrimination based on religion is prohibited).

In recent years, there has been a trend towards a stricter interpretation of ''laïcité'' which would also prohibit users of certain public services from expressing their religion (e.g. the 2004 law which bans school pupils from wearing "blatant" religious symbols) or ban citizens from expressing their religion in public even outside the administration and public services (e.g. a 2015 law project prohibiting the wearing of religious symbols by the employees of private crèches). This restrictive interpretation is not supported by the initial law on laïcité and is challenged by the representatives of all the major religions.

Authors, humorists, cartoonists, and individuals have the right to satirise people, public actors, and religions, a right which is balanced by defamation laws. These rights and legal mechanisms were designed to protect freedom of speech from local powers, among which was the then-powerful Catholic Church in France.

Though images of Muhammad are not explicitly banned by the Quran itself, prominent Islamic views have long opposed human images, especially those of prophets. Such views have gained ground among militant Islamic groups. Accordingly, some Muslims take the view that the satire of Islam, of religious representatives, and above all of Islamic prophets is blasphemy in Islam punishable by death. This sentiment was most famously actualized in the murder of the controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. According to the BBC, France has seen "the apparent desire of some younger, often disaffected children or grandchildren of immigrant families not to conform to western, liberal lifestyles – including traditions of religious tolerance and free speech".

Attack

''Charlie Hebdo'' headquarters

On the morning of 7 January 2015, a Wednesday, Charlie Hebdo staff were gathered at 10 Rue Nicolas-Appert in the 11th arrondissement of Paris for the weekly editorial meeting starting around 10:30. The magazine had moved into an unmarked office at this address following the 2011 firebombing of their previous premises due to the magazine's original satirization of Muhammad.

Around 11:00a.m., two armed and hooded men first burst into the wrong address at 6 Rue Nicolas-Appert, shouting "Is this ''Charlie Hebdo''?" and threatening people. After realizing their mistake and firing a bullet through a glass door, the two men left for 10 Rue Nicolas-Appert. There, they encountered cartoonist Corinne "Coco" Rey and her young daughter outside and at gunpoint, forced her to enter the passcode into the electronic door.

The men sprayed the lobby with gunfire upon entering. The first victim was maintenance worker Frédéric Boisseau, who was killed as he sat at the reception desk. The gunmen forced Rey at gunpoint to lead them to a second-floor office, where 15 staff members were having an editorial meeting, ''Charlie Hebdo''s first news conference of the year. Reporter Laurent Léger said they were interrupted by what they thought was the sound of a firecracker—the gunfire from the lobby—and recalled, "We still thought it was a joke. The atmosphere was still joyous."

The gunmen burst into the meeting room. The shooting lasted five to ten minutes. The gunmen aimed at the journalists' heads and killed them. During the gunfire, Rey survived uninjured by hiding under a desk, from where she witnessed the murders of Wolinski and Cabu. Léger also survived by hiding under a desk as the gunmen entered. Ten of the twelve people murdered were shot on the second floor, past the security door.

Psychoanalyst Elsa Cayat, a French columnist of Tunisian Jewish descent, was killed. Another female columnist present at the time, crime reporter Sigolène Vinson, survived; one of the shooters aimed at her but spared her, saying, "I'm not killing you because you are a woman", and telling her to convert to Islam, read the Quran and wear a veil. She said he left shouting, "''Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!''" Other witnesses reported that the gunmen identified themselves as belonging to al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Escape

An authenticated video surfaced on the Internet that shows two gunmen and a police officer, Ahmed Merabet, who is wounded and lying on a sidewalk after an exchange of gunfire. This took place near the corner of Boulevard Richard-Lenoir and Rue Moufle, east of the main crime scene. One of the gunmen ran towards the policeman and shouted, "Did you want to kill us?" The policeman answered, "No, it's fine, boss", and raised his hand toward the gunman, who then murdered the policeman with a fatal shot to the head at close range.

Sam Kiley, of Sky News, concluded from the video that the two gunmen were "military professionals" who likely had "combat experience", saying that the gunmen were exercising infantry tactics such as moving in "mutual support" and were firing aimed, single-round shots at the police officer. He also stated that they were using military gestures and were "familiar with their weapons" and fired "carefully aimed shots, with tight groupings".

The gunmen then left the scene, shouting, "We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad. We have killed ''Charlie Hebdo''!" They escaped in a getaway car, and drove to Porte de Pantin, hijacking another car and forcing its driver out. As they drove away, they ran over a pedestrian and shot at responding police officers.

It was initially believed that there were three suspects. One identified suspect turned himself in at a Charleville-Mézières police station. Seven of the Kouachi brothers' friends and family were taken into custody. Jihadist flags and Molotov cocktails were found in an abandoned getaway car, a black Citroën C3.

Motive

''Charlie Hebdo'' had attracted considerable worldwide attention for its controversial depictions of Muhammad. Hatred for ''Charlie Hebdo''s cartoons, which made jokes about Islamic leaders as well as Muhammad, is considered to be the principal motive for the massacre. Michael Morell, former deputy director of the CIA, suggested that the motive of the attackers was clear: trying to shut down a media organisation that lampooned the Prophet Muhammad".

In March 2013, al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, commonly known as al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a hit list in an edition of their English-language magazine ''Inspire''. The list included Stéphane Charbonnier (mentioned above in this article as ''Charlie Hebdo'' editor who died in this shooting) and others whom AQAP accused of insulting Islam. On 9 January, AQAP claimed responsibility for the attack in a speech from AQAP's top Shariah cleric Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari, citing the motive as "revenge for the honour" of Muhammad.

Victims

Killed

;Cartoonists and journalists

*Cabu (Jean Cabut), 76, cartoonist.
*Elsa Cayat, 54, psychoanalyst and columnist –
Also o
MSN
/ref> the only woman killed in the shooting.
*Charb (Stéphane Charbonnier), 47, cartoonist, columnist, and director of publication of ''Charlie Hebdo''.
* Philippe Honoré, 73, cartoonist.
*Bernard Maris, 68, economist, editor, and columnist.
* Mustapha Ourrad, 60, copy editor.
*Tignous (Bernard Verlhac), 57, cartoonist.
*Georges Wolinski, 80, cartoonist.

;Others
*Frédéric Boisseau, 42, building maintenance worker for Sodexo, killed in the lobby as he came to the building on a call, the first victim of the shooting.
*Franck Brinsolaro, 49, Protection Service police officer assigned as a bodyguard for Charb.Google "translated"
/ref>
*Ahmed Merabet, 42, police officer, shot in the head as he lay wounded on the ground outside.
*Michel Renaud, 69, a travel writer and festival organiser visiting Cabu.

File:CABU AOUT 2012.jpg, Cabu
File:Elsa Cayat.jpg, Elsa Cayat
File:2011-11-02 Incendie à Charlie Hebdo - Charb - 06.jpg, Charb
File:Philippe Honoré, dessinateur de Charlie Hebdo (crop).jpg, Honoré
File:Tignous 20080318 Salon du livre 1.jpg, Tignous
File:Salon du livre de Paris 2011 - Georges Wolinski - 007.JPG, Wolinski

Wounded

* Philippe Lançon, journalist—shot in the face and left in a critical condition, but recovered.
* Fabrice Nicolino, 59, journalist—shot in the leg.
*Riss (Laurent Sourisseau), 48, cartoonist and editorial director—shot in the shoulder.
*Unidentified police officers.

Uninjured and absent

Several people at the meeting were unharmed, including book designer Gérard Gaillard, who was a guest, and staff members, Sigolène Vinson, Laurent Léger, and Éric Portheault.

The cartoonist Coco was coerced into letting the murderers into the building, and was not harmed. Several other staff members were not in the building at the time of the shooting, including medical columnist Patrick Pelloux, cartoonists Rénald "Luz" Luzier and Catherine Meurisse and film critic Jean-Baptiste Thoret, who were late for work, cartoonist Willem, who never attends, editor-in-chief Gérard Biard and journalist Zineb El Rhazoui who were on holiday, journalist Antonio Fischetti, who was at a funeral, and comedian and columnist Mathieu Madénian. Luz arrived in time to see the gunmen escaping.

Assailants

Chérif and Saïd Kouachi

Biography

Police quickly identified brothers Saïd Kouachi (; 7 September 1980 – 9 January 2015) and Chérif Kouachi (; 29 November 1982 – 9 January 2015) as the main suspects. French citizens born in Paris to Algerian immigrants, the brothers were orphaned at a young age after their mother's apparent suicide and placed in a foster home in Rennes. After two years, they were moved to an orphanage in Corrèze in 1994, along with a younger brother and an older sister. The brothers moved to Paris around 2000.

Chérif, also known as Abu Issen, was part of an informal gang that met in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in Paris to perform military-style training exercises and sent would-be jihadists to fight for al-Qaeda in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. Chérif was arrested at age 22 in January 2005 when he and another man were about to leave for Syria, at the time a gateway for jihadists wishing to fight US troops in Iraq. He went to Fleury-Mérogis Prison, where he met Amedy Coulibaly. In prison, they found a mentor, Djamel Beghal

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases