Charlie Hebdo shooting in the context of "Saïd Kouachi"

Criticism of religion involves criticism of the validity, concept, or ideas of religion. Historical records of criticism of religion go back to at least 5th century BCE in ancient Greece, in Athens specifically, with Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos. In ancient Rome, an early known example is Lucretius' De rerum natura from the 1st century BCE.

Every exclusive religion on Earth (as well as every exclusive world view) that promotes exclusive truth-claims necessarily denigrates the truth-claims of other religions. Thus, some criticisms of religion become criticisms of one or more aspects of a specific religious tradition. Critics of religion in general may view religion as one or more of: outdated, harmful to the individual, harmful to society, an impediment to the progress of science or humanity, a source of immoral acts or customs, and a political tool for social control.

Charlie Hebdo (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁli ɛbdo]; French for 'Charlie Weekly') is a French satirical weekly magazine founded by François Cavanna and Professeur Choron in 1970, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, libertarian, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism, publishing articles about the far right (especially the French nationalist National Rally party), religion (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism), politics and culture.

Charlie Hebdo has been the target of three terrorist attacks: in 2011, 2015, and 2020. All of them were presumed to be in response to a number of cartoons that it published controversially depicting Muhammad. In the second of these attacks, 12 people were killed, including publishing director Charb and several other prominent cartoonists. In the aftermath, Charlie Hebdo and its publications became internationally recognized as symbols of free speech, culminating in the "Je Suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") movement, which underscored the global defense of freedom of expression and opposition to censorship.

From 7 to 9 January 2015, terrorist attacks occurred across the Île-de-France region, particularly in Paris and most prominently at the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo. Three assailants killed a total of 17 people in 3 shooting attacks; the attackers were then killed by police. The attacks also wounded 22 others. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility and said that the coordinated attacks had been planned for years. The claim of responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo shooting came in a video showing AQAP commander Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, with gunmen in the background who were later identified as brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting. However, while authorities say the video is authentic, there is no proof that AQAP helped to carry out the attacks. Amedy Coulibaly, who carried out the Montrouge shooting and the Hypercacher kosher supermarket siege, claimed that he belonged to ISIS before he was killed.

On 16 December 2020, 14 people, including Coulibaly's accomplice Hayat Boumeddiene, were convicted of involvement in the Île-de-France attacks. Boumeddiene, who was tried in absentia with 2 other defendants, was given a 30-year prison sentence for financing terrorism and belonging to a criminal terrorist network.

On 9 January 2015, Amedy Coulibaly, armed with a submachine gun, an assault rifle, and two Tokarev pistols, entered and attacked a Hypercacher kosher supermarket in Porte de Vincennes in Paris, France. There, Coulibaly murdered four Jewish hostages and held fifteen other hostages during a siege in which he demanded that the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the Kouachi brothers, not be harmed. The siege ended when police stormed the supermarket, killing Coulibaly. The Charlie Hebdo shooting had taken place just days earlier, as did the Dammartin-en-Goële hostage crisis, in which the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen were cornered.

On 16 December 2020, 14 accomplices to both the Jewish supermarket attack and the Charlie Hebdo shooting, including Coulibaly's former partner Hayat Boumeddiene, were convicted. At that time, three of the accomplices, including Bouddiene, had not been captured and were tried in absentia.

Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (French: [an idalɡo], Spanish: [iˈðalɣo]; born 19 June 1959) is a Spanish-born French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party (PS).

Hidalgo was First Deputy Mayor of Paris under Mayor Bertrand Delanoë (2001–2014), having held the title of Councillor of Paris since 2001. She was elected to the mayorship in 2014 after Delanoë announced he would not seek a third term. During her first term as Mayor of Paris she launched the city-wide Réinventer Paris ("Reinvent Paris") programme, which aimed at refurbishing and allocating obsolescent sites new uses, as well as opened a participatory budgeting platform for projects throughout the city. 2015 was marked by instances of Islamic terrorism: the January Charlie Hebdo shooting and November coordinated attacks, including the Bataclan theatre massacre, the aftermath of which she witnessed first-hand.