Call for free speech: Australian paper publishes Muhammad cartoon

(AFP) – An Australian newspaper today published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad arguing with Jesus, as it urged support for free speech in the wake of the deadly attack on a French satirical weekly.

Twelve people were killed in Wednesday’s attack by extremists on magazine Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris, prompting cartoonists around the world to put pen to paper in solidarity with their French colleagues.

The Weekend Australian newspaper published the cartoon by Bill Leak entitled “Let us pray” in which Jesus is holding up the Koran and telling Muhammad: “I’ve told you this needs a sequel,” a reference to the Bible which has an Old and New Testament.

To which Muhammad, brandishing a newspaper with the headline “World at War,” replies he can’t return to human form right now because he would be “crucified.”

Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad such as the cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo are banned in Islam and mocking him angers many Muslims.

In an editorial, The Weekend Australian called on the Western world to show no weakness in defending its core values or retreat from free speech.