Charlie Hebdo magazine

The protests, which have been led by women and include calls for the overthrow of ruling clerics, represent one of the biggest threats to their rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Charlie Hebdo, which has previously published offensive cartoons about dead child migrants, virus, neo-Nazis, popes, Jewish leaders, and other public figures, claims to be an advocate for democracy and free expression but frequently pushes the boundaries of French hate speech laws with sexually explicit caricatures that target a wide range of groups. The magazine faced backlash for reprinting caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, originally published by a Danish magazine in 2005, which were seen as sacrilegious and deeply hurtful to Muslims worldwide, although many Muslims still condemned the violent response to the drawings.