Cartoonist Renald “Luz” Luzier, who designed Charlie Hebdo‘s cover image of Prophet Muhammad after the Paris attacks has said he is leaving the magazin.
Luz is quoted by the French newspaper Liberation as saying that his job had become “too much to bear” following the deaths of his colleagues.
Twelve people were murdered when two Islamist gunmen burst into the Charlie Hebdo offices on January 7.
“Each issue is torture because the others are gone,” Luz told Liberation.
Photo AFP
Luz joined Charlie Hebdo in 1992 and said his resignation was “a very personal choice”. He will leave in September.
“Spending sleepless nights summoning the dead, wondering what Charb, Cabu, Honore, Tignous would have done is exhausting,” he added.
Within days of the attack, Charlie Hebdo‘s surviving staff produced an edition with the headline “All is forgiven” above Luz’s cartoon of Prophet Muhammad holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie”.
Pictorial depictions of Prophet Muhammad are considered forbidden by most Muslims.
Last month, Luz announced he would stop drawing images of Muhammad, as it no longer interested him.
He announced his plans to leave on May 18, but said many people were urging him to stay.
“They forget that the worry is finding inspiration,” he added.
Charlie Hebdo, which regularly struggled to make ends meet, is now backed up by tens of millions of euros of funding.
Luz said in a previous interview that financial security had posed questions about its future editorial direction.
Charlie Hebdo has announced it is printing a total of 7 million copies of the once-obscure French satirical magazine.
The new total reflects extraordinary demand for what has become known as Charlie Hebdo survivor’s issue.
The latest edition was produced in the days immediately following a terrorist attack at the magazine’s office in Paris. The attackers were apparently motivated by the magazine’s criticisms of Islam and depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.
The cover of the new issue has a cartoon of the prophet holding up a sign that reads ” Je suis Charlie” (I Am Charlie).
Customers at newsstands continue to seek copies of the issue – not just in France, where there were long lines observed earlier this week, but also in Germany, where the magazine went on sale on January 17.
There were local reports that the copies quickly sold out in cities like Berlin and Hamburg.
“We could have ordered 500 copies — they would have sold out,” a vendor at the main train station in Stuttgart told DPA, Germany’s main news agency.
Photo Reuters
For some, buying a copy is a way to show solidarity with the magazine and support freedom of expression.
Charlie Hebdo‘s French distributor, MLP, has been trying to keep pace with demand.
Roughly one million copies each were distributed on January 14, 15 and 16. Technical problems limited the number of copies available in France over the weekend, so it’ll take several days to reach the 5 million mark.
On January 17, MLP boosted the planned total to 7 million.
Le Figaro newspaper called it “a record in the history of the French press”.
A small number of copies began to reach the US on January 16, and more are expected to go on sale in the coming days.
To put the 7 million figure in perspective, only a small number of US magazines print that many copies – AARP The Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, and Game Informer Magazine.
While support for the new issue has been widespread, opposition to the Mohammed drawing on the cover has been expressed by Islamic leaders and government officials in a number of countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Charlie Hebdo’s cover has been described as insulting to Muslims and needlessly provocative.
Protests against the new cover were reported in Pakistan, Jordan, Algeria, Niger, Mali, Somalia, Senegal, and Mauritania.
Meanwhile, Charlie Hebdo’s surviving editors of the magazine have said little about their plans for future issues, but they have vowed to keep publishing.
Charlie Hebdo has sold 1.9 million copies of its survivor’s edition, which has provoked protests by Muslims around the globe over a new cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
The French satirical magazine’s distribution has been hit by printing problems, with only 230,000 copies ready against the one million that had been expected to ship this weekend, its distributor MLP said.
The technical problem had been resolved and “distribution will resume normally on Monday”, MLP said.
The latest issue was the first since two Islamist gunmen stormed Charlie Hebdo‘s Paris office on January 7 and massacred 12 people, saying they were taking revenge for previous publications of Muhammad cartoons – considered deeply offensive to many Muslims.
Charlie Hebdo defiantly published what it called the “survivors’ issue” on January 14, featuring Prophet Mohammed in a white turban and holding a sign that reads “Je suis Charlie” under the words: “All is forgiven”.
News agents on January 16 received another million copies of the issue, which “is still selling well” but not in the frenzy seen the previous two days after the issue came out, according to the French printing union UNDP.
On January 14 and 15, the 27,000 news outlets in France sold out within hours, with newspaper vendors selling a total of 1.2 million copies.
In addition, hundreds of thousands of copies have been bought by companies, institutions and communities.
Parisian theatres bought 25,000 copies to distribute to patrons and Air France took tens of thousands for its passengers, said MLP.
A further 150,000 are being shipped abroad. Germany is the largest buyer, with MLP to deliver 55,000 copies by January 19.
A total of five million copies of the issue will be printed, with deliveries continuing next week.
Prior to the attacks, the magazine sold around 60,000 copies a week.
Charlie Hebdo has also launched an app that let readers download the magazine.
An Iranian court has ordered the closure of Mardom e-Emruz (Today’s People) newspaper after publishing a picture of George Clooney wearing a badge backing French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which was attacked last week.
The Mardom e-Emruz newspaper ran a picture of the actor headlined “I’m Charlie too”.
Conservative elements in Teheran were incensed by a catchphrase they regard as “anti-Islamic”.
Charlie Hebdo has published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which many Muslims see as an offensive act.
The cover of Charlie Hebdo‘s latest edition, published after the attack in which 12 people were killed, featured a cartoon of the Prophet weeping while holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”.
Seven million copies of the edition are being printed in view of extraordinary demand, distributors announced on January 17.
“The court in charge of cultural affairs and the media imposed the ban on the newspaper for publishing a headline and a picture which it deemed insulting,”Mardom-e Emrouz director Ahmad Sattari told the Irna news agency.
The newspaper was only in its first month of publication, but that its political position was seen as close to that of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.
The court’s ruling is pending a final decision due later, but is unlikely to be overturned.
The post attack issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine has gone on sale, with a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad on its cover.
Three million copies are being printed – a week after Islamist gunmen murdered 8 journalists at the magazine and four other people in Paris.
The cartoon shows the Prophet weeping while holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”).
It is believed earlier cartoons of Prophet Muhammad prompted the attack.
The slogan “Je suis Charlie” has been widely used following the shootings.
In a separate attack in Paris two days later, four Jewish men died after an Islamist gunmen took hostages at a kosher shop in the French capital. A police woman was shot dead in a third shooting believed to have been carried out by the same attacker.
Wednesday’s edition of Charlie Hebdo has an unprecedented print run of three million copies. Normally only 60,000 are printed each week.
Demand for what is being called the “survivor’s issue” of the magazine is high, correspondents say, especially as the proceeds will go to the victims’ families.
People could be seen queuing outside newsstands on Wednesday morning to buy copies.
Kiosk owners told French media they had received large numbers of reservation requests, while at one shop in Paris all copies were reportedly sold out within 30 minutes.
The issue is available in six languages – including English, Arabic and Turkish – some in print and some online.
Editor-in-chief Gerard Biard told reporters: “We are happy to have done it and happy to have been able to do it, to have achieved it. It was tough. The front page… was complicated to put together, because it had to express something new, it had to say something relating to the event that we had to deal with.”
The front cover of the edition had been widely published in advance by French media.
Outside France, the Washington Post, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine, Corriere della Sera in Italy and the UK’s Guardian are among publications to show the cartoon.
Very few outlets in the Middle East and North Africa have shown the image.
Charlie Hebdo‘s decision to publish another cartoon of the Prophet has already generated threats from militant Islamist websites and criticism from the Islamic world.
This week’s three million copies of Charlie Hebdo will feature a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign, the magazine lawyer said.
Above the cartoon are the words “All is forgiven”. This comes after Islamist gunmen raided the magazine’s Paris office on January 7, killing 12 people.
A total of 17 people were killed in three days of terror attacks in the French capital last week.
The special issue, to come out on Wednesday, January 14, will also be offered “in 16 languages” for readers around the world, one of its columnists, Patrick Pelloux, said.
The 44-year-old newspaper has always sought to break taboos with its provocative cartoons on all religions, current events and prominent personalities.
Charlie Hebdo’s distributors, MLP, had initially planned to print one million copies of the issue currently being put together by survivors of the shooting.
But MLP said demand from France and abroad has been huge and that 3 million copies would now be released.
The original paper printed at 60,000 copies a week, selling 30,000.
The latest cover of Charlie Hebdo has been published in advance by French media. Outside France, the Washington Post, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine, Corriere della Sera in Italy and the UK’s Guardian are among publications to show the cartoon.
The slogan in French “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”) was widely used following the January 7 attack on the magazine, as people sought to show their support.
Charlie Hebdo‘s lawyer Richard Malka told France Info radio: “We will not give in. The spirit of <<I am Charlie>> means the right to blaspheme.”
Survivors of the massacre have been working on the magazine from the offices of the French daily newspaper Liberation with equipment loaned by the Le Monde daily and cash handed out by other French and even foreign media.
Five of Charlie Hebdo‘s cartoonists – including the editor – were killed in the attack.
The new edition will be created “only by people from Charlie Hebdo”, its financial director, Eric Portheault, told AFP news agency.
Contributions from other cartoonists were declined.
Wednesday’s edition aims to raise fresh cash to ensure the survival of the weekly, with all revenue from the sales, at 3 euros ($3.75) a copy, going to Charlie Hebdo once the cost of the paper has been deducted.
French hashtag Je suis Charlie, meaning “I am Charlie”, has trended after the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine’s offices in Paris on January 7.
Je suis Charlie is a message of solidarity with the victims of Charlie Hebdo attack, and is also being used as a hashtag on Twitter (#JeSuisCharlie).
Following the massacre of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo headquarter, the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie has trended in France and further afield.
Je suis Charlie is being used by tweeters who wish to show refusal to be silenced by the massacre.
French tweeters started the hashtag by posting a simple image with the text “Je Suis Charlie” on a black background, claiming that the attackers would not take their freedom.
Tweeters from other countries also showed solidarity with France and those who lost their lives in the shooting.
Thousands of people have gathered at the Place de la Republique in central Paris for a vigil after a deadly attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Many held up placards saying “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie), referring to a hashtag that is trending on Twitter in solidarity with the victims.
Piles of pens – symbolizing freedom of expression – and candles have been laid across the square.
Tens of thousands of people have also joined rallies in other cities across France.
A major manhunt has been launched in Paris for three gunmen who shot dead 12 people at the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Eight journalists, including the magazine’s editor, and two policemen were among the dead.
Protests over the killings are being held in cities across France. It is the country’s deadliest attack in decades.
President Francois Hollande called it a “cowardly murder” and declared a day of national mourning on Thursday, January 8.
Charlie Hebdo‘s website, which went offline during the attack, is displaying the single image of “Je suis Charlie” on a black banner. Other major newspapers are displaying similar banners.
The latest tweet on Charlie Hebdo‘s account was a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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