Paris, France - The Mosque of Paris has filed suit against a satirical weekly for publishing three cartoons of Islam's prophet. Two of the cartoons were among those published by a Danish newspaper that triggered violent protests five months ago, judicial officials said.
The suit was filed against Philippe Val, executive editor of Charlie-Hebdo, a satirical magazine, and against the Rotatives publishing house.
The Mosque of Paris said it considers publishing the cartoons "a deliberate act of aggression aimed at offending people of the Muslim religion." The mosque is the largest in France, where about 5 million Muslims live. A preliminary hearing is set for late September.
The weekly published the cartoons in February, putting one on its cover that showed a caricature of a weary prophet with his head in his hands under the title "Muhammad Overwhelmed by the Fundamentalists." A caption under the cartoon reads: "It's hard to be loved by idiots."
The other two drawings were among the 12 originally published last September by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Newspapers in Europe and elsewhere — some of them seeking to make a statement in defense of press freedom — reprinted the caricatures earlier this year, triggering protests around the Muslim world.
Val, the Charlie-Hebdo chief, said at the time that he published the caricatures to show support for the Danish press as well as for an editor at the daily France Soir who was fired after reprinting the caricatures.
Five French newspapers have reprinted caricatures of the prophet.