Paris: Barely a week after terror attack by Islamist militants at its office in Paris, a defiant Charlie Hebdo magazine was back at the kiosks with its latest issue featuring Prophet Muhammad on its cover and sold millions of copies.
The satirical magazine created a historic record for any French publication and sold five million copies of its latest issue, two millions more than expected for the planned edition. It normally prints around 60,000 copies in a week.
The latest edition was printed in five languages including Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Turkish and English and is being sold in over 20 countries.
Large queues of people lined up outside kiosks were seen on early morning at around 6 am and millions of copies of the issue were sold out within minutes.
The latest edition features cartoon of Prophet Muhammad on its cover in a green background holding a sign which says “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) under the headline “All is forgiven”.
It is the first issue to be published by the magazine after the deadly jihadist attack at its office killed 12 people including eight cartoonists and journalists and two police officers.
The proceeds from the sale of the magazine will go to the families of the victims of the terror attack.
The cartoonist of the satirical magazine, Renald “Luz”, said that he cried after drawing the front cover of the latest edition which also has caricatures drawn by the five murdered cartoonists.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday declared “war against terrorism” in Parliament and President Francois Hollande paid tribute to the three police officers killed in the attack.
