Defiant Charlie Hebdo to print 3M copies of latest edition with Muhammad on cover

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

Muhammad will be back on the cover of the next edition of Charlie Hebdo, along with a message of forgiveness from surviving staffers at the French satirical magazine where 12 people were killed last week by a pair of Islamist brothers angered over the publication's penchant for showing images of the prophet.

 

The decimated, but uncowed magazine upped its usual print run of 60,000 copies to 3 million for the magazine, due out Wednesday but released to the French newspaper Liberation. Fierce bidding on eBay had editions commanding as much as $500 following the outpouring of support for Charlie Hebdo, whose four top cartoonists were among the dozen killed. Editor-in-chief Gérard Biard said in a Tuesday radio interview the decision to run a cartoon if Muhammad holding a a “Je Suis Charlie” sign with the caption "Tout est pardonne," or "All is forgiven," and said the message was not that Muhammad was offering forgiveness, as some initially assumed.

 

ight Charlie Hebdo staffers were killed in the attack, including the magazine's editorial director, Stephane Charbonnier, who drew under the name "Charb."

 

Biard said tomorrow's issue is meant as both a memorial to fallen co-workers and proof that the magazine's mission of irreverence has not been compromised.

 

"We needed to figure out how to continue laughing and making others laugh," he said. "We wanted to analyze, say something about the events. This drawing made us laugh.

 

He continued: "We did not want masked men on the cover. We didn't want more of that. That's not us. We didn't want to add to the gravity. It helps to be able to breathe a little."

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At least they can breathe...