More Threats against Cartoonists in Wake of Charlie Hebdo Killings

Cartoon by Kanika Mishra

As people the world over gathered in solidarity with the 12 killed at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, there is evidence of a continued campaign of violence directed towards cartoonists and satirists.

A newspaper in Germany which had reprinted several of the controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoons was firebombed Sunday January 11 in possible retaliation.

And in Turkey, journalist Pinar Tremblay of Al-Monitor reports of threats referencing the Hebdo killings targeting that country’s cartoonists and satirical magazines. One satirist reports being told to watch the news coverage of Charlie Hebdo’s slain cartoonists “to take a sneak peak at my own future.”

The Istanbul-based satirical magazine Leman, which is planning a tribute issue commemorating its Charlie Hebdo colleagues, received a tweet saying “The number of heads to be taken out in Leman magazine is more than 12.”

Tremblay writes: “Umut Oran, a parliamentarian from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, told Al-Monitor that he had submitted a parliamentary question to the prime minister asking what kind of security measures had been put in place to protect the cartoonists of Leman and Penguen, who have been blatantly threatened.

“Cartoonists in Turkey are used to violence, including arson attacks and guns being fired at their offices, but at a time of mourning on this scale, the degree of blatant, unquenched anger against them is nonetheless frightening.”