New York, November 2, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by today’s firebomb attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the disabling of its website by unknown hackers. The attacks appear to be in retaliation for the paper’s spoof edition, “guest edited” by the Prophet Muhammad.
“We are appalled by the attempt to destroy Charlie Hebdo both physically and on the Web,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “Journalists should not be subjected to violence for presenting contentious views. We call on French authorities to find and bring all responsible for these attacks to justice.”