Kenyan, South African papers apologise for running Charlie Hebdo cover

Uproar among Muslim readers after papers reprinted the controversial new cover of Charlie Hebdo

NEW YORK: Uproar was triggered among Muslim readers when Kenya’s The Star and South Africa’s The Citizen reprinted the controversial new cover of Charlie Hebdo. Both publications issued apologies to its readers on Thursday, TIME reported.

“The Star sincerely regrets any offence and pain caused by the picture and we will bear Muslim sensibilities in mind in the future,” read a statement from the Kenyan paper.

The country’s media regulator reportedly summoned The Star‘s owner after levying accusations that the paper published indecent images and had acted in an unprofessional manner, according to the BBC.

Earlier this week, editors at The Citizen had claimed that the publication of the new cover had been a mere “oversight” and was not fueled by malicious intent.

“The Citizen would never intentionally offend anyone’s religious sensibilities, especially in the manner used by Charlie Hebdo magazine, several of whose staff members were murdered last week,” a statement said, in an online editorial.

The latest cover of Charlie Hebdo showed an illustration of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) holding a sign saying "I am Charlie," with the headline reading "All is forgiven." This was the first issue of the magazine since gunmen went on a shooting spree in its Paris offices earlier this month.



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Whether or not it is justifiable to run the latest cover has been the topic of debate for several media publications as printing of the images of the Prophet (pbuh) is offensive to Muslims.