“It’s very important not to be afraid but you have got to stand on these very valuable democratic principles on which our societies here in western Europe are based, so I hope we will not give in. You must not surrender the very important freedom of speech.”
Must not surrender, yes. But the media is surrendering.
“Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier crossed off chilling al-Qaeda hitlist,” by Lucy Cormack, Sydney Morning Herald, January 8, 2015:
The Inspire hit list which was being shared by Twitter accounts commonly used for al-Qaeda. propaganda.
Slain Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier had featured on a list of people being proposed as potential targets in an al-Qaeda magazine in 2013.
Chillingly, the hitlist has reappeared on Twitter following the attack on the magazine’s Paris newsroom, with a red X imposed over Charbonnier’s face.
The list was originally published in a 2013 edition of Inspire, al-Qaeda’s leading English-speaking magazine, under the heading “Wanted, dead or alive for crimes against Islam.”
The updated list began surfacing on Twitter within hours of the Paris attack, shared by Twitter accounts commonly used for al-Qaeda propaganda.
A total of 11 names appear on the latest version of the list, some of whom have had increased security detailing since the attack.
Author Salman Rushdie, Danish journalist Flemming Rose and Dutch politician and leader of the Party for Freedom Geert Wilders (spelled Girt on the hit list) are just some of the featured headshots.
Rushdie, who had a fatwa placed on him after the publication of his 1989 book The Satanic Verses, released a statement following the attack on Wednesday.
“Religion, a medieval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry, becomes a real threat to our freedoms,” he said.
“Religion” is the threat, eh, Salman? I will keep an eye out for those Amish.
“This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today. I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity.”
Kurt Westergaard, who caused outrage with his drawings of the prophet Muhammad in newspaper Jyllands-Posten.Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard also appears on the hit list. He created the image of the prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005.
Responding to the Charlie Hebdo attacks Westergaard said he hoped the media world would not be scared.
“It’s very important not to be afraid but you have got to stand on these very valuable democratic principles on which our societies here in western Europe are based, so I hope we will not give in. You must not surrender the very important freedom of speech,” he said….
The full hit list is: Stephane Charbonnier, Danish journalist and former Jyllands-Posten editor Carsten Luste, US pastor Terry Jones, Kurt Westergaard, Geert Wilders, Lars Vilks, Flemming Rose, Morris Swadiq and Salman Rushdie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Molly Norris.