The French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, was fire-bombed this week, just after  our prophet mantle left the city.  The magazine planned an edition with an image of the prophet Mohammed and the caption, “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter”. The magazine announced that Mohammed was the “guest editor” for the day, after Islamists made significant electoral gains in Tunisia and post Gaddafi Libya announced it will be run as an Islamic state, getting rid of regulations that do not conform to Islamic Sharia Law.

The Charlie Hebdo magazine Paris offices were completely destroyed by a “molotov cocktail” bomb. Their website was also hacked the same day and warning messages posted on its homepage in French and Turkish from Islamist extremists.

The attack raises serious questions about freedom of speech. With groups like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), who aim to make western states legalize any “criticism” of Islam. The OIC, plan to lobby the UN as well as western governments to “criminalize” critics of Islam. If such laws were introduced, it would make it very difficult to say or print anything opposed to Islam, thereby gagging freedom of speech and the media globally.