In November 1970, the former French president Charles de Gaulle died in his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, eight days after a disaster in a nightclub, the Club Cinq-Sept fire, which had caused the death of 146 people. ( Hebdo is short for hebdomadaire – 'weekly') This was launched in February as Hara-Kiri Hebdo and renamed L'Hebdo Hara-Kiri in May of the same year. In 1969, the Hara-Kiri team decided to produce a weekly publication – on top of the existing monthly magazine – which would focus more on current affairs. New members of the team included Delfeil de Ton, Pierre Fournier (journaliste), and Willem. A few contributors did not return along with the newspaper, such as Gébé, Cabu, Topor, and Fred. Hara-Kiri was briefly banned in 1961, and again for six months in 1966. After an early reader's letter accused them of being 'dumb and nasty' ('bête et méchant'), the phrase became an official slogan for the magazine and made it into everyday language in France. Eventually Cavanna gathered together a team which included Roland Topor, Fred, Jean-Marc Reiser, Georges Wolinski, Gébé, and Cabu. Choron acted as the director of publication and Cavanna as its editor. In 1960, Georges 'Professeur Choron' Bernier and François Cavanna launched a monthly magazine entitled Hara-Kiri. The previous editors were François Cavanna (1970–1981) and Philippe Val (1952–2009).įrançois Cavanna (1923–2014), one of the founders of the first Charlie Hebdo title Gérard Biard is the current editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo. The magazine is published every Wednesday, with special editions issued on an unscheduled basis. In 1981, publication ceased, but the magazine was resurrected in 1992. In the second of these attacks, 12 people were killed, including publishing director Charb and several other prominent cartoonists.Ĭharlie Hebdo first appeared in 1970 after the monthly Hara-Kiri magazine was banned for mocking the death of former French president Charles de Gaulle. All of them were presumed to be in response to a number of cartoons that it published controversially depicting Muhammad. The magazine has been the target of three terrorist attacks: in 2011, 2015, and 2020. Stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism, publishing articles about the far-right (especially the French nationalist National Front party), religion ( Catholicism, Islam and Judaism), politics and culture. At a recent meeting with print company executives the minster warned them to be “vigilant”.Laurent 'Riss' Sourisseau (70%), Éric Portheault (30%) Ĭharlie Hebdo ( French pronunciation: meaning Charlie Weekly) is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. A member of the printers' management was questioned by police in connection with legal proceedings against the paper's editor. The Moroccan authorities in August 2007 cordoned off the premises of the printers Ideale for several days and destroyed copies of the weekly Tel Quel, on the orders of the interior minister Chakib Benmoussa. “They are now becoming censors by proxy and are over-doing it to avoid any further confrontation with the authorities.” It is currently benefiting from effects of pressure it has put on printers for several months,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

“The Moroccan state did not have to intervene in this censorship decision. Managing editor, Ali Amar, changed photos illustrating a feature on a work by two Moroccan artists - inspired by French artist Gustave Courbet's painting “Origin of the world” - which had been withdrawn from an exhibition in Mexico at the request of the Iranian ambassador, who found it “prejudicial to the Muslim religion”.Īmar told Reporters Without Borders that the printer had been convinced that the Moroccan authorities would not allow the edition in question, on 30 November, to go on sale. Reporters Without Borders today said it was concerned that the printers of the Journal Hebdomadaire had forced its management to change its front page photo and others inside for fear the edition would be seized if it was printed as it was.

Journal hebdomadaire photo police