Four bookshops in Belgium have revealed they have received letters warning of reprisals if they choose to stock the controversial first issue of Charlie Hebdo since the attacks.

"I recommend that you do not spread these cartoons of our beloved Mohammed in this despicable Charlie Hebdo magazine, at the risk of reprisals against you and your horrible business," the letters said, according to the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

Belgian prosecutors said they were taking the letters sent to the bookshops two days ago "very seriously" and were analysing video footage and making other inquiries to find whoever wrote them.

"In the current context, this type of act is intolerable," spokesman Laurens Dumont was quoted as saying by the Belga news agency.

Demand for the latest Charlie Hebdo edition was high in partly-French speaking Belgium, with the 30,000 that were due to go on sale there expected to sell out quickly.

Five million copies of the Charlie Hebdo issue will be printed, but the first print-run of 700,000 copies sold out quickly in Paris.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-15/bookstores-selling-charlie-hebdo-sent-warning-letters/6018032

 

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Just to let you know we've been on the case for a while: 

on the back page... (September 2012)... and way before this of course...

For people who are supporters of not just free speech but newspapers, too, the images of Parisians queued up at dawn Wednesday to get their hands on a printed artifact was heartening. The French distributors of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo said the latest issue’s initial printing of three million copies had been increased to perhaps five million, and there were reports that the now-precious editions were being auctioned on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

The image on the cover was of a weeping Prophet Muhammad, framed by two thoughts: “I am Charlie” and “All is forgiven.” But the sentiment that drove the sales probably had less to do with those messages and more to do with the impulse to preserve a world in which the speech of the many cannot be held hostage by a few.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/business/media/flocking-to-buy-charlie-hebdo-citizens-signal-their-support-of-free-speech.html?_r=0

 

 

Медиа цензор предупреждает Charlie Hebdo-Стиль мультфильм Составляют преступностью в России (translated by Google)

Russia's communications watchdog issued a formal warning to the country's media on Friday against publishing religious-themed cartoons, saying their publication could be classified as a crime.

The warning issued on Roskomnadzor's federal website followed an earlier statement on its Facebook page and previous warnings from regional branches of the watchdog.

"The publication in the media of religious-themed cartoons could be classified by Roskomnadzor as offensive or degrading to members of religious denominations and organizations, or as inciting national or religious hatred, which is a direct violation of the laws on mass media and extremism," the federal agency said in its statement.

The agency also said the publication of religion-themed satirical content contradicted "ethical and moral norms formed over a century of cohabitation" between people of different backgrounds and faiths in Russia.

Following the deadly terrorist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris last week, which the gunmen said was revenge for its depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, publications across the world have reprinted some of the cartoons in a show of solidarity and support for freedom of speech.

The Kamchatka branch of Roskomnadzor wrote to local news outlets Tuesday to warn them that publishing cartoons of religious figures was "inadmissible."

The next day, the St. Petersburg-based Business News Agency said it had received an order from the local Roskomnadzor to take down pictures of Charlie Hebdo's latest cover — again featuring the Prophet Muhammad — that it had published on its website this week.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/media-watchdog-warns-charlie-hebdo-style-cartoons-constitute-crime-in-russia/514496.html

 

A week after the massacre at the headquarters of a French publication known for insulting adherents of several faiths, Pope Francis told reporters that freedom of expression has its limits when it comes to insulting religion.

Or, he joked, his mom.

Calling freedom of expression a “fundamental” human right, the pope outlined why he believes there are limits to that right. If someone “says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch,” he joked, according to an Associated Press translation. “It’s normal. It’s normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.”

Despite joking about his mother, Francis also condemned violent retaliation. “One cannot offend, make war, kill in the name of one’s own religion — that is, in the name of God,” the pope said. “To kill in the name of God is an aberration.”

Francis was speaking in Italian aboard the papal plane, on the way from Sri Lanka to the Philippines. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the pope was responding to a question about freedom of speech and religion in general. But acknowledging that the reporter asking the question was French, Pope Francis indicated that his response applied specifically to the attacks. “Let’s go to Paris, let’s speak clearly,” he said, according to NCR.

“The Pope’s expression is in no way intended to be interpreted as a justification for the violence and terror that took place in Paris last week,” the Vatican press office said in a later statement, addressing Francis’s remarks. The statement adds, “the Pope’s free style of speech, especially in situations like the press conference must be taken a face value and not distorted or manipulated.”  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2015/01/15/pope-francis-on-charlie-hebdo-you-cannot-insult-the-faith-of-others/?hpid=z10