Sipa news agency is reporting that French police have detained a man who is suspected of threatening to decapitate Stéphane Charbonnier, the editor-in-chief and cartoonist of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, after publishing naked caricactures of the Prophet Muhammad.
According to the report, the 43-year-old man is suspected of making the threat on an Internet forum, allegedly writing, “The essential thing is not to let him live in peace.”
Speaking about the cartoons, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Obama administration believed the cartoons “will be deeply offensive to many and have the potential to be inflammatory.”
“We don’t question the right of something like this to be published,” he said. “We just question the judgment behind the decision to publish it.”
Charbonnier, who goes by the pen name “Charb,” defended the cartoons to the AP in part by telling reporters that Muhammad isn’t sacred to him.
“I don’t blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings,” he said. “I live under French law. I don’t live under Quranic law.”
He also said he doesn’t regret publishing the cartoons, nor does he take responsibility for any violence that may ensue.
“We’ve had 1,000 issues and only three problems, all after front pages about radical Islam.”
Watch the video from the AP here:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-059HXuW1E]
Previously: France Closes 20 Embassies Over Naked Muhammad Cartoons
Related: Cartoons about the reaction to drawings of the prophet Muhammad
