Anniversary of the “Charlie Hebdo” attack: “We draw what we want”

The pencil is still sharp: the Islamist attack on “Charlie Hebdo” was eight years ago. For the anniversary, the satirical magazine is dedicated to the uprising in Iran and makes fun of the regime. Tehran reacted with outrage.

In front of a screaming yellow background, a gigantic woman squats in a childbearing position. stark naked. And little pygmy ayatollahs wander into her vagina. This is the cover of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo. Underneath it reads, “Mullahs, go back where you came from.”

The makers have printed 30 other caricatures – all entries from a competition that the editors have announced, said Laurent Sourisseau, who is known by his pseudonym Riss.

“Many of these drawings show women reversing roles,” explained the satirical magazine’s editorial director. “Women who stone mullahs, or who lasso mullahs as if they were cattle.” These drawings make it clear that fear should finally change camps.

Tehran summons French ambassador

The editors received 300 submissions from all over the world. Many exiled Iranians took part, but also some particularly brave ones who still live in Iran. The regime in Tehran has already reacted. The publication of these caricatures is improper and offensive. The French government should not be allowed to cross such limits.

Tehran announced that it would close the French research institute IFRI in Iran. The French ambassador in Tehran was also summoned. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, on the other hand, reacted coldly. “It’s Iran that makes bad policies, that uses violence against its own people,” she said on LCI television.

She wanted to remind people that freedom of expression prevails in France – in contrast to Iran. “Our judiciary monitors this freedom of expression, which is also foreign to Iran. And: In our law there is no criminal offense of blasphemy,” Colonna explained.

Iran: Paris does not counter Islamophobia

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani nevertheless blamed the French government and demanded an explanation. The French authorities are doing nothing against Islamophobia and what he believes is the continuing “incitement to racist hatred” against Muslims.

Cartoonist Riss, on the other hand, noted with amusement in an interview with the broadcaster France Info that the ayatollahs were only being beaten with their own weapons: “I would remind you that in 1993 it was also the mullahs who called for the author who had been given a fatwa to be killed of Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.” It is a political weapon of the mullahs that “Charlie Hebdo” is now using and is aimed at the mullahs themselves.

“We can draw what we want”

Riss has been under constant police protection since the assassination attempt in January 2015, which he barely survived. However, he does not shy away from confrontation with the Iranian theocracy.

When the website of the satirical magazine was paralyzed by hacker attacks this week, Riss was undaunted. “It’s not the first time,” said the cartoonist. That’s nothing new. “We can draw whatever we want, even if the mullahs don’t like it.”