In response, Essam Erian of the Muslim Brotherhood called for restrictions on the freedom of speech.
Is there anything anyone could say to you that would move you to riot and kill? Is the likelihood that people will riot and kill because of these cartoons sufficient reason to shut them down? Wouldn’t that set a precedent whereby any group that didn’t like what someone else was saying could riot and kill until he was shut down?
It reflects well on France that they didn’t seize copies of the magazine or arrest Charb.
“Magazine’s nude Mohammad cartoons prompt France to shut embassies, schools in 20 countries,” by Nicholas Vinocur for Reuters, September 19 (thanks to Christine):
PARIS “” A French magazine ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday by portraying him naked in cartoons, threatening to fuel the anger of Muslims around the world who are already incensed by a film depicting him as a womanizing buffoon.
The French government, which had urged the magazine not to print the images, said it was temporarily shutting down premises including embassies and schools in 20 countries on Friday, when protests sometimes break out after Muslim prayers.
Riot police were deployed to protect the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo after it hit the news stands with a cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing the turbaned figure of Mohammad in a wheelchair. On the inside pages, several caricatures of the Prophet showed him naked.
Reacting to the publication, Essam Erian, acting head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, told Reuters: “We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonor the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people’s beliefs.”
Calling for a UN treaty against insulting religion, he added: “We condemn violence and say that peaceful protests are a right for everyone. I hope there will be a popular western and French reaction condemning this.”…