Editorial: Publication as a crime

The crass decision of a French weekly magazine to publish deeply offensive and blasphemous cartoons against the Prophet (peace be upon him) needs to be condemned unequivocally. It is a deliberate attempt to further inflame the anger and distress of Muslims around the world, already scandalized at the odious anti-Islamic film made in the US. Given that international protests at this first outrage have already cost scores of lives, including those of the American ambassador to Libya and three of his colleagues, the provocative move by the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, is in truth, nothing less than a crime.
The editor of this magazine is a potential murderer. He is intellectually dishonest and is prepared to have blood in hands in order to boost circulation figures. He cannot disown the outcome of his action on the grounds that he is not responsible for how others react.
It is not difficult to fathom why the editor of this so-called ‘satirical’ publication has chosen to carry these sickening cartoons. Working on the odious principle that there is no such thing as bad publicity, its editor, Stephane Charbonnier, knows that the bitter controversy he has stirred up, will enable him to sell more copies of his magazine. He pulled a similar stunt last year, with earlier noxious representations of the Prophet, denigrating Islam. He then protested his own outrage when the publication’s Paris offices were attacked in November.
As with the notorious Danish magazine cartoons, the excuse for this latest reprehensible behavior is “freedom of expression.” Charbonnier has protested lamely that he should be free to comment on the news of the day in a ‘satirical way.’ What this classic liberal claim misses entirely is that nobody has the freedom to offer such outrageous insults to any person or community, in the almost certain knowledge that the response will bring about deaths and injury of innocent people. There is, in short, no freedom, anywhere in the world, to provoke the loss of life.
There is also a more insidious motive here. This is to discredit Muslims by seeking to demonstrate that they are violent and bigoted when their faith is challenged, in a way that the secular West chooses to see as in no way provocative, even indeed, mildly amusing. Without faith, there is tragically little appreciation of how important their religion is to the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. With such willful ignorance of Islam and the central role of faith in the lives of all good Muslims, many in the West are easily fooled, by those who hate Islam, into believing its followers are dangerous and violent. There is no comprehension that the angry protests against these blasphemies, actually demonstrate the deepest injury and profoundest grief that ordinary Muslims feel have been caused to them.
Tragically, it is not just the Islamaphobic idiots who will enjoy the ruckus they have caused. Equally menacing are the terrorists of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates. They claim obscenely to be acting in the name of Islam. These cartoons and the pathetic film have given them outstanding opportunities to commit yet more terror crimes against innocent people. It seems clear that last week, they hijacked the noisy but peaceful demonstration outside the US consulate in Benghazi in Libya, and launched an attack with scores of terrorists, to murder the four diplomats and sack the building.
US oversees missions are all now in various stages of lock-down with extra security details. As a result of the Charlie Hebdo crime, the French government has been forced to do the same, while Al-Qaeda self-righteously declares open season on anyone connected by nationality with these latest blasphemies.
It is entirely possible that innocent Frenchmen will now lose their lives in a terror attack. Charbonnier of course, will deplore any deaths, but protest his freedom to publish whatever he wants. Maybe he will be proved right in his cocky assumption that the French authorities cannot take action against him in the courts. However, the family and friends of any victims of terror attacks will feel very differently. They should decide to pursue civil actions against the magazine and its puffed-up editor, and seek heavy damages and extensive compensation for their loss. There is surely a good chance that they will win.
French law may not regard what Charbonnier has done as a crime. Nevertheless crime it is, in terms of its immorality, its disrespect and its barely-concealed hatred for the people of the Muslim world, and the faith and values that they hold so dear.