Terrorist Attack in Paris Kills 12 People

[AGBF]

Terrorists in Paris attacked a newspaper, killing 12 people. They were undoubtedly Muslim "extremists", which to my mind is a euphemism when the term that should be used in this case is "murderers".

Article from "The New York Times"...http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=span-ab-top-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

AGBF

 

[partgypsy]

It is truly horrifying. If people think this is just about cartoonists, this is wrong. This is an attack on the Western belief of journalistic independence, and freedom of expression.

 

[telephone89]

It is truly horrifying. If people think this is just about cartoonists, this is wrong. This is an attack on the Western belief of journalistic independence, and freedom of expression.

+1

Breaks my heart.

 

[tyty333]

This makes me so sad (and mad).

 

[JaneSmith]

Paris gets Mohammered.

 

[TooPatient]

It is truly horrifying. If people think this is just about cartoonists, this is wrong. This is an attack on the Western belief of journalistic independence, and freedom of expression.

Yes! This is bigger than "just" another murder. Those terrorists -- yes, in this case that mean Islamic extremists -- were after more than "just" the murder of those people.

My thoughts are with the families of those murdered.

 

[VRBeauty]

Cartoonists respond:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesth...from-artists-in-response-to-the-ch#.law59aYpz

 

[AGBF]

Cartoonists respond:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesth...from-artists-in-response-to-the-ch#.law59aYpz

There are really wonderful cartoons among the many featured here, VRBeauty. Satire is a wonderful tool. I love the two renditions of, "He drew first".

 

[AGBF]

People in Paris showing solidarity with the victims of the terrorist attack tonight.

AGBF

 

[AGBF]

More coverage...http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2900259/Gunmen-kill-11-Charlie-Hebdo-attack.html

An excerpt from the article:

"Ms Rey and her daughter hid under a desk, from where they saw two other cartoonists being executed.

'They shot Wolinski and Cabu,' she said. 'It lasted five minutes. I had taken refuge under a desk.'

Ms Rey said the men 'spoke French perfectly' and 'claimed they were 'Al Qaeda terrorists'.

Gunmen reportedly told another witness: 'You say to the media, it was Al Qaeda in Yemen.'

A police source told the Liberation newspaper the gunmen were asking for the Mr Charbonnier by name, shouting: 'Where is Charb? Where is Charb?'

The source added: 'They killed him then sprayed everyone else.'

Mr Charbonnier was included in a 2013 'Wanted Dead or Alive for Crimes Against Islam' article published by Al Qaeda propaganda magazine Inspire.

The latest tweet published by the newspaper's official Twitter account earlier in the day featured a cartoon of Abu Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State.

In it, he wishes everyone 'good health'. Cartoonists Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski were all also reported dead.

Radio France chief executive Mathieu Gilet later announced on Twitter that a contributor, Bernard Maris, was another of the victims."


Deb/AGBF

 

[diamondseeker2006]

This is horrific. I hope countries wake up and realize that they must be much more vigilant in who they allow in their countries and deport those with any terrorist association or history. The news I heard said that one or more of these men were known to authorities. This kind of terrorism is increasing, and it definitely makes me rethink our travel plans.

 

[AGBF]

This is the other rendition of, "He drew first" which was included in the series of cartoons VRBeauty posted. We have to keep writing about this outrage. We cannot let religious fanatics intimidate us.

AGBF

 

[LaraOnline]

It was reported that a third man had a rocket launcher, although this detail seems missing from some newspapers.
A rocket launcher!

 

[kenny]

When will religious people get that their religions do not apply to non-members.

 

[PattyCo]

This is so horrible! My condolences to their families and fellow countrymen.

 

[AGBF]

Hamyd Mourad, 18, one of the three suspects in the bloody attack in Paris yesterday has surrendered to police. Early today a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor said that Mr. Mourad had walked into a police station in Charleville-Mézières, about 145 miles northeast of Paris and given himself up. The other two suspects, Parisian-born brothers, known to intelligence services, are still at large.

AGBF

 

[movie zombie]

When will religious people get that their religions do not apply to non-members.

no religion seems immune and it is so very sad what people do in the name of their religion.

RIP to those murdered and may those injured survive and heal.

not sure how the employee/mother with the child will fare given she's the one that let them in....understandable given threats to her child but guilt is a hard thing to bear.

 

[arkieb1]

This is my favourite;

 

[AGBF]

arkie-

I hadn't seen the yesterday, today, and tomorrow cartoon. Thank you for posting it!

Deb

 

[ksinger]

When will religious people get that their religions do not apply to non-members.

When their religions quit telling them that they DO? (kill the infidel, convert or kill the heathen, chasing the non-believer with messages and tracts that threaten Hell if they don't believe, etc)

I hear ya Kenny, I do...

 

[TooPatient]

Looks like two of the terrorists just held up a gas station.

 

[TooPatient]

The entire article is worth reading, but I'll paste my favorite part below.
The article is written by a woman journalist who happened to be on her way to visit a friend just minutes after the attack.


Snip:

"The assailants are as yet at liberty. I hope they’ll be dead by the time you read this. But if not: You want me too? Come get me. Because nothing short of killing me — and many more of my kind — will ever shut us up.

And if you don’t believe that now, you’ll believe it very soon. Because there are more of us willing to die for that freedom than those of you eager to take it from us. And soon you will find out that those of us willing to die for that freedom are also much better at killing than you.

So come and get me. Je suis Charlie."


LINK to article

 

[Calliecake]

When will religious people get that their religions do not apply to non-members.

This is all so incredibly sad. Like Movie Zombie, I also worry how the mother with the toddler is doing.

Kenny, I hear you. Unfortunately I don't think it will happen in our lifetime. What terrible things some people will do in the name of religion.

 

[PattyCo]

This is my favourite;

My first thought is that the pencil on the left, under "Tomorrow", needs to be sharpened on both ends!!

 

[AGBF]

The slain police officer has inspired a new cry beside, "Je suis Charlie". The officer who was executed as he lay dying on the ground, pleading for his life, was born in France but of north African descent. His name was Ahmed Merabet. People have begun to chant, "Je suis Ahmed" ("I am Ahmed") as well as "Je suis Charlie" in France.

Link...http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-terror-attack-je-suis-ahmed-merabet.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Excerpt from article:

"Some Twitter users wrote that Officer Merabet had died defending a newspaper that was accused of insulting his faith, and one user posted a quotation attributed to the French philosopher Voltaire: 'I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.'

...​

Officer Merabet, 40, was assigned to the police precinct in Paris’s 11th Arrondissement, according to Rocco Contento, an official with another police union, who knew Officer Merabet.

'He was a nice person, very likable, always with a smile and very professional,' Mr. Contento said. 'His colleagues are all very shocked by what happened.'

Mr. Contento said Officer Merabet, whose parents were from North Africa, lived in a suburb north of Paris with a large immigrant community, was unmarried and had no children, but could not confirm whether he was a practicing Muslim.

'The family wishes to keep as much discretion as possible,' said Loïc Lecouplier, an official with another police union. Police officials at the Paris prefecture and the Interior Ministry declined to comment on the officers who were killed."


AGBF

 

[JaneSmith]

Also posted in the freedom of speech vs religion thread.

Those of us who have openly criticised Islam and Islamism have faced many a threat and intimidation from the far-Right Islamist movement.

I have had phone calls saying I will be decapitated to recorded messages from the Islamic regime of Iran saying my time is near (yes, they have so many threats to make, they need to use recordings!). I’ve been called every derogatory and threatening term you can imagine from kafir, murtad, munafiq to fitnah and janazie (corpse)…

I don’t think there are many atheist, ex-Muslim or secular activists (including Muslims) like myself who have spoken up publicly and not faced some form of threat or intimidation.

So for us, Charlie Hebdo’s refusal to back down when so many have has meant a great deal over these years. Also, though, in addition to the rage one feels at any such tragedy, the massacre is personal for us.

It could really have been any of us. We are truly all Charlie Hebdo.

With the focus now on Charlie Hebdo and the crucial need and right to criticise Islam and religion, though, let us not forget the many across the globe who face execution or imprisonment for “insulting the prophet” and criticising Islam. Below you will find some examples which include Muslims, believers and atheists; the charges aim not to protect “Muslim sensibilities” as we so often hear in the west but to protect the status quo and the political power of Islamists.

A defence of Charlie Hebdo must also be turned into a defence of the many who refuse and resist.

Most urgent is the case of Raif Badawi who tomorrow on 9 January 2015 faces his flogging sentence. Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam” in Saudi Arabia. he is to receive the first 50 torturous lashes tomorrow after Friday prayers.

Columnist Fatma Naoot, accused of insulting Islam, will stand trial on Jan. 28 in Egypt on allegations she criticised Islamic animal sacrifices.

In January 2015, 82 year old Muslim scholar Kassim Ahmad lost his bid to challenge the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department which charged him with insulting Islam after the Malaysian High Court ruled that his case fell under the Shariah Court.

28 year old Mauritanian journalist and anti-slavery activist Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, has been sentenced to death on 25 December 2014 for “insulting the prophet”.

An Egyptian journalist Bishoy Boulous Armia (32) has been given a five-year prison sentence for allegedly causing “sectarian strife” and “insulting Islam” as he reported on the persecution of Christians in Egypt.

In December 2014, there has been a campaign of threats to kill artists and writers for “insulting Islam” in the Gaza strip.

In December 2014, Indonesian police named The Jakarta Post editor-in-chief, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, as a suspect in a blasphemy case stemming from a caricature on ISIS. An Islamic group filed a complaint against the newspaper, saying it had “insulted Islam”.

An investigation has been opened against Junaid Jamshed, better known as “disco mullah”, in December 2014 after he reportedly “insulted” one of Prophet Muhammad’s wives in Pakistan where blasphemy is punishable by death.

In December 2014, Islamists called for “public execution” of Algerian novelist Kamel Daoud because of his having “insults [to] Allah”.

In early December, bloggers Tan Jye Yee, 26, and Vivian Lee, 25, were revoked and were charged in the Malaysia under the Sedition Act for insulting Islam and Ramadan in a Facebook account.

30 year old blogger Soheil Arabi has been sentenced to execution in Iran for “insulting the prophet” on Facebook.

Women’s rights campaigner Souad al-Shammary has been imprisoned since 28 October 2014 on accusations she has “insulted Islam” and the prophet in Saudi Arabia.

27 year old Mohsen Amir-Aslani convicted of insulting prophet Jonah and making ‘innovations in religion’ through interpretations of Qur’an was hanged in Iran in September 2014.

47 year old British-Iranian Roya Nobakht was sentenced to 20 years in prison for “insulting Islam” when she said on Facebook that the Iranian regime was “too Islamic”.

In September 2014, Muhammad Shakil Auj, Dean of the faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Karachi, was shot dead by gunmen two years after being accused of committing blasphemy.

49 year old mother of five Asia Bibi has been in prison for five year awaiting execution for blasphemy in Pakistan.

The list goes on and on.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2015/01/08/a-defence-of-charlie-hebdo-must-also-turn-into-defence-of-other-blasphemers-and-apostates/#more-6242

The line between terrorism and state-sanctioned murder is blurry.

 

[JanesJewels]

I was saddened to read of retaliation attacks in Paris against innocent Muslims.

The terrorists must be pleased with that. They want to create dissension, trouble, unrest, and make religions hate each other. Co-existing in peace would defeat those aims.

It is important to remember that the vast majority of Muslims are ordinary, peace-loving, innocent people. Extremist madmen are the problem, not Islam or its sane, normal followers.

I have always suspected that terrorism is nothing to do with religion whatsoever, but just an excuse for crazy, unhinged, deeply disturbed sociopathic murderers to kill people. They kill because they are totally insane, not because they are religious. If religions didn't exist, I highly doubt that these people would be loving, normal people living peaceful, productive lives. They are rotten to the core. I feel sad for those whose faith matters to them that these terrorists have made Islam such a hated religion. Observant Muslims must be terribly afraid to go out after attacks like this, (seeing as their mode of dress/hair etc often marks them out as Muslim). I feel sorry for them, especially the ones who are experiencing retribution for terrible crimes that they had nothing to do with.

 

[ksinger]

For those who dislike Sting, well, I'm sorry. But this song - 28 years old already (eek!) keeps running through my mind right now. The message IS spot on. A long and sordid history of bloody violence in the name of something that exists in the mind alone, is being forgotten at an alarming pace.

History Will Teach Us Nothing

If we seek solace in the prisons of the distant past
Security in human systems we're told will always always last
Emotions are the sail and blind faith is the mast
Without a breath of real freedom we're getting nowhere fast

If God is dead and an actor plays his part
His words of fear will find their way to a place in your heart
Without the voice of reason every faith is its own curse
Without freedom from the past things can only get worse

Sooner or later just like the world first day
Sooner or later we learn to throw the past away

History will teach us nothing

Our written history is a catalogue of crime
The sordid and the powerful, the architects of time
The mother of invention, the oppression of the mild
The constant fear of scarcity, aggression as its child

Sooner or later
Sooner or later
Sooner or later
Sooner or later

Convince an enemy, convince him that he's wrong
Is to win a bloodless battle where victory is long
A simple act of faith
In reason over might
To blow up his children will only prove him right
History will teach us nothing

Sooner or later the world first day
Sooner or later we learn to throw the past away

History will teach us nothing

Know you human rights
Be what you come here for
Know your human rights
Be what you come here for

 

[packrat]

I think Jane's last sentence applies to many things, everywhere. And with Ksinger's Sting song, it's true, history won't teach us a dang thing. These things repeat daily, worldwide, and nobody learns.

 

[mochiko42]