French President says freedom of press stops him from passing judgement on publication of Mohammad’s cartoon

Sep 2, 2020
Paris:  Citing freedom of the press, French President Emmanuel Macron has refused to pass any judgment on the decision by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to re-publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, which had led to violent protests ny Muslims.

“It’s never the place of a president of the Republic to pass judgment on the editorial choice of a journalist or newsroom, never. Because we have freedom of the press,” Reuters quoted Macron as saying on Tuesday in Lebanon.

He, however, said that he expected French citizens to show civility and respect for each other, and avoid anything that created hatred.

His remarks came as the magazine re-published the cartoons on the eve of a trial in Paris of alleged accomplices in a 2015 gun attack on the magazine’s offices by Islamist militants which left 12 people dead.

Meanwhile, the trial of 14 people started in France on Wednesday .

While 11 of the defendants were present in the courtroom, three were being tried in absentia, the BBC reported.

The 14 suspects are accused of helping the the two Islamist attackers who shot dead 12 people, including the magazine’s editor at the time Stephane Charbonnier, in and around the office on January 7, 2015.

—India News Stream