It was established to ridicule de Gaulle, and its name was inspired by him.. “Charlie Hebdo,” a French newspaper that has consistently insulted the symbols of Islam

The French newspaper "Charlie Hebdo", published every Wednesday, adopts the style of satirical journalism since its founding in 1970, and is characterized by its treatment of political issues based on caricatures. and culture” and does not hide its hostility to religions, especially Islam.

editorial line

This French newspaper defines its editorial line as "taking an insightful and meticulous look at community news, the environment, and politics, and relies on satirical and comical cartoons in its treatment of files and daily news."

"Charlie Hebdo" has dealt with on several occasions religions and religious currents, and has sparked controversy on more than one occasion by insulting the symbols of religions, especially Islam.

its headquarters

The headquarters of the "Charlie Hebdo" newspaper is located in the French capital, Paris, at 37 Martyrs Street, the 9th arrondissement. The 11th arrondissement of Paris.

its history

The world of graphics in the field of French press and media experienced a radical change, as it was dominated by the family character and the conservative mentality that the painters had to respect and follow its traditions. at that time.

"Charlie Hebdo" was the result of a path known by several satirical magazines before it, as it is the result of a separation process that took place in 1969 for 3 illustrators and journalists who were working in another satirical newspaper, "Hara Kiri".

The three called the new newspaper "Hebdo", presenting themselves as a left-wing newspaper, in line with the revolutionary atmosphere prevailing among French student youth after the events of May 1968 against capitalism and American consumerism, as well as the policy of the country's then president, Charles de Gaulle.

The roots of the newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" go back to the year 1960 when François Kavanagh and Georges Bernier founded the "Monthly Hara Kiri" newspaper for the liberation movement, which in February 1969 became the "Kara Hiri" weekly.

The Hara Kiri newspaper attacked, in a sarcastic way, President de Gaulle and his government, the various authorities, including the police and the judiciary, as well as the wealthy and religious beliefs.

In 1969, the founders of "Hara Kiri Hebdo" launched another illustrated newspaper called "Charlie", the monthly, which relied on the famous cartoon character of that period, "Charlie Brown", in an attempt to provoke President de Gaulle by insisting on choosing the name "Charlie", which is a diminutive form. For the name of Charles.

On November 16, 1970, the Ministry of the Interior decided to prevent "Hara Kiri" from being published after publishing pornographic drawings, but the main reason behind this decision was mainly an article in which the newspaper mocked the death of de Gaulle on November 09, 1970.

At the end of the same month, the newspaper was reopened, but its name was changed from "Hara Kiri Hebdo" to "Charlie Hebdo".

From 1970 to 1980, "Charlie Hebdo" represented the voice of the French people protesting against the social, economic and political policies of governments, as its channels of communication were open with the general public, who played an important role in spreading it locally by proposing exclusive coverage topics and hot files of interest to France.

This editorial policy, which the French considered "revolutionary", made the newspaper's sales jump in an imaginary way, as its numbers were rapidly running out of kiosks despite its weekly withdrawal of 120,000 copies. Thus, it established its position as a comprehensive media outlet for all spectrums of opposition in the French political scene.

With the arrival of the left to power in 1981, the success of François Mitterrand in assuming the presidency, and the failure of the right to lead the political scene in France, which was the enemy on which "Charlie Hebdo" built its mass successes, sales began to decline, as its audience no longer saw the merit in This stage of reliance on satirical journalism due to the absence of objective reasons that were denied by the absence of right-wing currents.

And continued "Charlie Hebdo" appearing in the kiosks until the end of 1981 and then stopped for financial reasons.

In 1992, the French cartoonist Jean-Maurice Gilles Capy and the journalist Philippe Val brought the newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" back to life after 11 years of hiatus.

Scandals and excesses

With her return to the media scene again, the supervisors of "Charlie Hebdo" did not find the same attractive sales numbers that she knew in the past, which settled in the range of 50 thousand copies per week. Its leftist principles do not seek support from capital.

And "Charlie Hebdo" has continued the same approach since its return to issuance in the early nineties of the last century, as it made the sanctities of all peoples and religions of the world a media material for ridicule and ridicule.

At the beginning of the 21st century, "Charlie Hebdo" made ridicule of the religion of Islam its favorite topic. In 2007, it began daring about Islamic sanctities, as it published cartoons insulting to the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, which sparked a wave of protests in many Arab countries and the Middle East. Muslim communities around the world.

And in 2011, one of the most important shareholders in the capital of the newspaper, journalist Philip Fall, withdrew, so that “Charlie Hebdo” experienced the largest financial crisis ever, which forced it to abandon its headquarters and move to a modest headquarters.

At the end of the same year, a fire broke out in the new headquarters, which was considered arson, so Charlie Hebdo moved temporarily to one of the headquarters of the largest French left-wing newspaper, Liberation.

In October 2011, in response to "Charlie Hebdo"'s transgressions against Islamic sanctities, in addition to its mockery of the Islamists' accession to power in Tunisia, a group of Internet hackers managed to penetrate the "Charlie Hebdo" website and put the image of the Holy Kaaba in the place of the newspaper's logo, and wrote under it the phrase Monotheism is "there is no god but Allah".

The cover of the issue of December 7, 2011 carried a cartoon of the story of Christ's "Last Supper", mentioned in the Bible.

On September 23, 2012, and coinciding with the Muslim protests due to an American film offensive to the Holy Prophet, "Charlie Hebdo" rode the wave in order to return to the limelight by publishing offensive pictures of the Messenger Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, expressing "its support for the freedom of cinematic production," the matter. Which ignited the protests against it and forced the French authorities to secure their diplomatic missions and close French schools in many Arab countries.

And in 2014, the newspaper issued a special issue, on the story of the birth of Christ, which caused it widespread criticism by religious people around the world.

And in 2015, "Charlie Hebdo" again published cartoons insulting to the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and sparked a great wave of anger in the Islamic world, in which citizens participated through mass demonstrations, and governments through official protests with the French government.

On January 25, 2015, the newspaper was subjected to an armed attack that killed 12 people, including a number of the most important painters, an attack that al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for.

What also aroused indignation against "Charlie Hebdo", the satirical drawing of the losses of the earthquake that struck Turkey on February 06, 2023 and claimed the lives of tens of thousands, prompting a lot of ink and criticism from all peoples of different religious and ideological beliefs about the way this newspaper deals with human constants.

Lawsuits

On February 8, 2007, the French court considered the lawsuit filed by the Grand Mosque of Paris and the Federation of Islamic Organizations in France against the newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" for publishing cartoons insulting to the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, which had previously been published by a Danish newspaper.

On September 15, 2013, the French judiciary considered a lawsuit filed by some Arab Islamic associations in France against the newspaper on charges of inciting feelings of hatred and hatred among the spectrum of people, demanding that it be punished and fined with compensation of 780,000 euros.

On May 22, 2022, the Paris court decided to refuse to consider the case filed by Saudi lawyer Othman Al-Otaibi against "Charlie Hebdo" and decided to postpone it to a later date, on the grounds that Al-Otaibi was not personally targeted by public insult and insult on the basis of religion.

The court indicated that only the public prosecutor or the authorized organization or association in accordance with the law can file a public lawsuit regarding the crime of incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence, which it considered not achieved, as the lawsuit was filed by the lawyer in his personal name.

The French judiciary also rejected other lawsuits filed by the French Islamic Council and the Paris Mosque administration against "Charlie Hebdo" on charges of insulting the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace.