Controversy over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad

The weekly writes about the dispute triggered by the French daily France Soir's decision to republish the caricatures in its Wednesday, February 1 issue. An editorial choice questioned by the paper's owner, Raymond Lakah, who responded by firing the managing editor, Jacques Lefranc. Before learning of this development, the paper's editor-in-chief, Serge Faubert, explained in an interview led by François Sionneau why the daily decided to publish the drawings. "Not everyone is obliged to share the strictures of a religion, whichever one it may be. ... I believe freedom of expression wears thin if one fails to use it. And caricature is an element of free expression. We are a republican newspaper and we fight for republican values. The moment that someone wants to forbid caricatures, that is the moment we publish them."

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