Aarhus-based media outlet Jyllands-Posten on Wednesday rejected French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s request to reprint the controversial Mohammed cartoons.
Following the rejection, Charlie Hebdo, whose offices in Paris were attacked in 2015, reprinted the caricatures individually.
The move came after the French authorities opened a trial based on terrorism charges against 14 suspects accused to have provided money, weapons, escape apartments and vehicles to the attackers.
‘A step backwards’
Author and professor Frederik Stjernfelt, on the occasion, criticised Jyllands-Posten’s decision. “It is a colossal step backwards for the debate,” he said in a comment made to Denmark-based daily Information.
Jacob Nybroe, the editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten, explained that the newspaper had primarily turned down the request because printing the caricatures would compromise the paper’s security.
The 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks claimed 17 lives. The attackers, Said and Chérif Kouachi, then killed four more men while taking hostages at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris.
