Europe

Europe

French magazine attacked after it portrays Prophet Mohammed

02 November 2011 11:48 (UTC +04:00)

"The building is still standing. The problem is there’s nothing left inside," Stephane Charbonnier, editor of the weekly Charlie Hebdo, told Europe 1 radio.

This week’s edition shows a cartoon of Mohammed and a speech bubble with the words: "100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter."

It has the headline "Charia Hebdo," in a reference to Muslim sharia law, and says Mohammed guest-edited the issue.

A police source stopped short of blaming the blaze at the Paris offices on a firebomb and said it happened around 1 a.m. (12 a.m. British time), adding that no one had been injured.

The magazine’s website on Wednesday appeared to have been hacked and showed images of a mosque with the message "no god but Allah."

Many Muslims find any image of the Prophet Mohammed offensive.

The publication of a cartoon of Mohammed in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked angry protests across the Muslim world in which at least 50 people died.