--- description: Editor known as "Charb," killed Wednesday, had been placed on al-Qaeda's most-wanted list for his cartoons mocking the Prophet title: 'Charlie Hebdo' Editor Killed in Paris Attack Built Career on Defiance image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf54d4f1fe2656040/698778838e0601e58045991f/152343580.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Charlie Hebdo_ Editor Killed in Paris Attack Built Career on Defiance ## Video: Know Right Now: Paris Gunmen Killed, Hostages Freed [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Paris Gunmen Killed, Hostages Freed](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WZdnXsGV.m3u8) (1:03)  _Published 2015-01-07. Watch #knowrightnow to catch up on today's top story._  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jan 7, 2015 8:19 PM CUT  French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo's editor and cartoonist Stéphane Charbonnier clenches his fist as he presents to journalists, on Sept. 19, 2012, at the weekly's headquarters in Paris, the latest issue that features on the front cover a satirical drawing entitled "Intouchables 2." Inside pages contain several cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo's editor and cartoonist Stéphane Charbonnier clenches his fist as he presents to journalists, on Sept. 19, 2012, at the weekly's headquarters in Paris, the latest issue that features on the front cover a satirical drawing entitled "Intouchables 2." Inside pages contain several cartoons of the Prophet MuhammadFred Dufour—AFP/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Jan 7, 2015 8:19 PM CUT Among the dozen deaths in [Wednesday’s terrorist attack](http://time.com/3657314/paris-shooting-charlie-hebdo/ "undefined") on the Paris office of satirical newspaper _Charlie Hebdo_ was its editor and principal cartoonist, Stéphane Charbonnier, who built his career on defiance and the right to insult religion. Police say gunmen killed 10 journalists and two police officers, including one who had been stationed outside, before fleeing and prompting a manhunt. Though authorities have not yet identified the assailants, who are suspected of being extremists, _Charlie Hebdo_ had received numerous threats over the years for its satirization of Islam, particularly the Prophet Muhammad. While the attack has been widely condemned, it has also reignited a discussion about _Charlie_ _Hebdo_’s penchant for political incorrectness, especially under Charbonnier. The editor, known as Charb, was in charge in 2011 when the newspaper ran a caricature of the Prophet on a cover and, in jest, named him the “editor in chief” of its next issue. The newspaper’s office was firebombed the next day. “We don’t feel like causing further provocation. We simply feel like doing our job as usual,” he [told](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15550350 "undefined") Agence France-Presse. “The only difference this week is that Muhammad is on the cover and it’s pretty rare to put him on the cover.” He also [told](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15550350 "undefined") the BBC that he thought the act was perpetrated by “idiot extremists,” not French Muslims. “If we can poke fun at everything in France, if we can talk about anything in France _apart_ from Islam or the consequences of Islamism,” he said, “that is annoying.” ### Front Pages React to Paris Terror Attack  Aftenposten, Norway  DeMorgen, Belgium  The Independent, United Kingdom  "France is bruised" / La Croix, France  Berria, Spain  The Times of London, United Kingdom  De Tijd, Belgium  "Liberty: 0 - Barbarism: 12" / L'Equipe, France  "We are all Charlie" / Libération, France  Berliner Kurier, Germany  L'Echo, France  Berlingske, Denmark  The National, Scotland  "No" / Sud Ouest, France  The International New York Times — Europe  La Tribune, France  Politiken, Denmark  "The Black Day" / La Provence, France _Charlie Hebdo_ again found controversy in September 2012\. In the days after the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, it published cartoons that portrayed the Prophet naked. The French government condemned Charbonnier’s decision to run them and decided to [close](http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/us-protests-france-idUSBRE88I0BU20120919 "undefined") schools and embassies in 20 countries in anticipation of violence. Charbonnier defended the decision, [telling](http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/cartoons-spark-press-freedom-debate-in-france/?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar&%5Fr=0 "undefined") _Le Point_: “I’m not asking devout Muslims to read _Charlie Hebdo_, any more than I would go to a mosque to hear a sermon that went against my beliefs.” And he dismissed the idea that he was responsible for putting lives at stake. “I don’t feel as though I’m killing someone with a pen. I’m not putting lives at risk,” he admitted to [_Le Monde_](http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2012/09/20/je-n-ai-pas-l-impression-d-egorger-quelqu-un-avec-un-feutre%5F1762748%5F3236.html "undefined")_._ “When activists need a pretext to justify their violence, they always find it.” Charbonnier, who was placed on al-Qaeda’s most-wanted list for mocking the Prophet and put under police protection, firmly stood behind his staff’s right to free speech even as _Charlie Hebdo_ was lambasted for its satire of hot-button topics like religion, feminism and the French government. “It just so happens that every time we deal with radical Islam we have a problem,” he [said](http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2012/09/2012920162020148120.html "undefined") in an interview with al-Jazeera, “and we get indignant or violent reactions.” One of his main points, as an editor and cartoonist, was a defense of the right to do with art what other journalists do with words. “We are a newspaper like any other and so we dealt with a current news topic like any other,” he continued. “Our mode of treatment is just different; we do it with drawings.” Charbonnier stuck to that belief until his death Wednesday, at age 47\. One of his last works that _Charlie Hebdo_ [published](https://twitter.com/JulienHatten/status/552796332256411648/photo/1 "undefined") was headlined “Still No Terror Attacks in France” and depicted a militant with the speech bubbles: “Wait! We have until the end of January to send our best wishes,” a play off of New Year’s resolutions. _Read next:_ [_12 Cartoonists Pay Tribute to_ ](http://www.time.com/3658535/charlie-hebdo-cartoon-paris-terror/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined")[Charlie Hebdo](http://www.time.com/3658535/charlie-hebdo-cartoon-paris-terror/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined")[ _Staff_](http://www.time.com/3658535/charlie-hebdo-cartoon-paris-terror/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3657402/charlie-hebdo-stephane-charbonnier-paris-attack/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3657402/charlie-hebdo-stephane-charbonnier-paris-attack/"},"headline":"Charlie Hebdo Editor Killed in Paris Attack Built Career on Defiance","datePublished":"2015-01-07T20:19:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:23.109Z","description":"Editor firmly stood behind his staff's right to free speech, even when it was ridiculed as provocation","url":"https://time.com/3657402/charlie-hebdo-stephane-charbonnier-paris-attack/","keywords":["France"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf54d4f1fe2656040/698778838e0601e58045991f/152343580.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf54d4f1fe2656040/698778838e0601e58045991f/152343580.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FRANCE-ISLAM-RELIGION-WEEKLY-CHARLIE-HEBDO","caption":"FRANCE-ISLAM-RELIGION-WEEKLY-CHARLIE-HEBDO","creditText":"Fred Dufour—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3657402/charlie-hebdo-stephane-charbonnier-paris-attack/","name":"Charlie Hebdo Editor Killed in Paris Attack Built Career on Defiance"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Paris Gunmen Killed, Hostages Freed","description":"Watch #knowrightnow to catch up on today's top story.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WZdnXsGV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-01-07T16:26:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WZdnXsGV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3657402/charlie-hebdo-stephane-charbonnier-paris-attack/","duration":"PT1M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3657402/charlie-hebdo-stephane-charbonnier-paris-attack/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```