Three million copies of Charlie Hebdo were printed and distributed today with a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign on the cover page. Above the cartoon are the words “All is forgiven” in reference to the bloody attack on the magazine last week. I’ve seen a lot of Lebanese and few journalists and medias sharing the cartoon on their social media page but I wonder if it’s legal to do such a thing?
I know for a fact that you can go to jail for “blasphemy God publicly” in Lebanon and I am pretty sure you can’t draw the prophet and publish it anywhere in Lebanon, but I don’t know if it’s the same thing when you are sharing someone else’s work. If it were up to me, I would vote for a limitless freedom of expression as I believe extremes will end up being repelled by most societies. Take for example Charlie Hebdo, the magazine was suffering financially and looking for funds before the attack and now it’s selling 3 million copies and has collected over $1 million dollars in donations because of that incident.
In all cases, I hope no one gets sued or threatened for sharing the cover today.
yes yes lets all celebrate freedom of speech by insulting the prophet of 2.08 billion people, this is going to be fun to watch, mhabil walla
also where is the freedom of speech on your blog if each comment needs to wait moderation ? or r just trying to stop hate speech on ur blog, it pisses u off, doesnt it ?
Mohd,
The first comment a user posts needs moderation then all are approved and this has nothing to do with the freedom of speech but with spammers and people sharing nudity, insults or racist statements here.
This discussion is very controversial. The Prophet & our faith won’t get touched by any mockery. Its just not the freedom of speech to insult the Prophet, this will always cause inconvenience.
@najib and don’t you think that the cartoons depicting the prophet are insulting ?
Well according to your view, insults and racism should be considered part of free speech so why do our comments need to await moderation? Just because they’re hurtful doesn’t mean that we can’t say them, freedom of speech right?
I don’t understand why people are so angry about these cartoons? No one knows how the prophet looked like and besides, this person looks like many other Afghanis or some arabs. I’m an arab and I really don’t care what people draw or not!
why don’t they insult muslims instead of insulting a dead prophet ,in the end it’s Muslims as overall population who are extremists mostly
I love the USA, we can insult anyone we want with no legal penalties.. I pray this limit to freedoms imposed by Religion will never enter the land of the free. May God Bless the USA, always.
Fadi your comment has pissed me off and ruined my day … how could you be so clueless, don’t you know that your beloved USA is the source of all evil? how can you be proud of such a nation with all the atrocities they brought to world? from Cuba to japan, passing though Guatemala, Sudan, Congo, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Italy, Ukraine, Lebanon, Palestine (the whole middle east really) … and the list goes on and on. The country you so dearly cherish has been in constant state of war since it’s creation! but of course never on its own soil. I realize that in your comment you are only talking about freedom in the USA , and you are absolutely right, but next time you enjoy that freedom, think of all the poor non-american people who had to pay their lives and dignity for the sake of that freedom. You are also allowed to say whatever you want in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Australia and Canada… do they ever fuck with anyone? well maybe Australia a little bit… USA should live and let live, so far sadly it has only been live and let die. *Rant over*
Everyone had the right to love their country unconditionally, with all its flaws. I truly love the USA, as Imperfect as it may be, it is my country and I will defend it against any outside act of terrorism and fight for the freedoms that terrorists want to take away, such as silencing freedom of speech.
Die Religion… ist das Opium des Volkes
& the classic german with NPD
Na7awi. 😀
Wait whaaa? I can go to jail for blasphemy?
I doubt that Muslims around the world could lose faith in Islam or in the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) after these caricatures, this is an opportunity for them to confirm their love for their prophet and understand that these are just opinions printed on paper. Many other religions and especially Christianity was faced since decades with infamous photos, articles, movies, songs, etc…and all these didn’t shake the faith of Christian believers. They looked at it, smiled, understood and kept going.
I already reserved my copy of Charlie Hebdo, only for what is represents after the tragedy, and NOT for the caricature on its front page. Reading the issue won’t affect my respect for Islam and real Muslims around the world.
Yes for freedom of expressing ideas in any form.