Anisa Sadat
September 2, 2020, 10:48 AM EDT
Kavian Press – Trials for 14 people on charges of helping the three gunmen who attacked the Charlie Hebdo Publication and a Jewish supermarket killing 17 people five years ago, started today in Paris.
Only 11 of the 14 appeared in court to face charges of conspiracy in a terrorist act or association with a terror group, the other three fled France before 2015 attack and are believed to be somewhere in territories controlled by ISIS.
In the days ahead of the January attack, Charlie Hebdo published derogatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad leading to violent protests around the world by Muslims who consider the physical depictions of Prophet Muhammad forbidden.
Following the publication of the cartoons, two French nationals Said and Cherif Kouachi the two brothers attacked the office of the publication killing 12 people including a police officer as they were leaving the scene on January 7, 2015.
A day after Amedy Coulibaly, a friend of Cherif Kouachi killed a female police officer during a traffic stop outside Paris and fled the scene.
Coulibaly, then went to a Jewish supermarket and killed four men during a hostage taking before he was shot dead by police on January 09. The other two attackers were also killed days later at a printing shop where they were hiding after carrying out the attack.
All the attackers had links to ISIS and they were radicalized watching ISIS videos and propaganda materials on the internet.
As the date for trials of suspected collaborators in the case approached the publication reprinted the caricatures again on Wednesday, drawing fresh condemnation from Pakistan’s foreign ministry, which called the decision to reprint the caricatures again “deeply offensive”.
