'Hebdo' victims buried as Hollande calls for tolerance
As some of the victims of the attack on satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo were buried Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said anti-Muslim or anti-Semitic acts must be "severely punished."
Speaking at the Arab World Institute in Paris, Hollande said France's millions of Muslims should be protected and respected, "just as they themselves should respect the nation" and its strictly secular values.
"Anti-Muslim acts, like anti-Semitism, should not just be denounced but severely punished," he said. Noting that Muslims are the main victims of Islamic extremist violence, he said, "in the face of terrorism, we are all united."
Gunmen linked to radical Islam murdered eight staff members at the newspaper on Jan. 7, along with four other people. Five more people were killed in separate attacks on a policewoman Jan. 8 and at a kosher supermarket Friday.
Chérif Kouachi and his brother, Said, had shouted that their mission in attacking the Charlie Hebdo offices was to avenge the newspaper's publication of what they said were denigrating cartoons about Islam.
Mourners attended funerals Thursday for some of the Charlie Hebdo victims, including for cartoonists Bernard "Tignous" Verlhac and Georges Wolinski, columnist Elsa Cayat and policeman Franck Brinsolaro, who guarded Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier.
The French military also announced Thursday that hackers have targeted about 19,000 French websites since the terror attacks in Paris last week, in unprecedented cyberattacks, some carried out by well-known Islamic hacker groups.
The assaults have been relatively minor denial-of-service attacks and have hit a broad range of websites from military regiments to pizza shops, said Adm. Arnaud Coustilliere, head of cyberdefense for the French military. None appeared to have caused serious damage, he added.
"What's new, what's important, is that this is 19,000 sites — that's never been seen before," Coustilliere said. "This is the first time that a country has been faced with such a large wave of cyber-contestation."
Meanwhile, Spanish authorities said the French gunman killed while holding hostages at the kosher supermarket drove his common-law wife from France to Madrid on Dec. 31 and was with her until she took a Jan. 2 flight to Istanbul.
In a statement, Spain's National Court said it is investigating what Amedy Coulibaly did in the Spanish capital with his wife Hayat Boumeddiene and a third person, who was not identified but is suspected of helping Boumeddiene get from Turkey to Syria.
Speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of a policy preventing them from being cited by name, a Spanish security official said Coulibaly drove back to France on Jan. 2. The official said Spanish authorities are working with their counterparts in France to determine if Coulibaly and Boumeddiene met with others.
Back in France, customers again lined up Thursday to get copies of the first Charlie Hebdo issue since the killings after it sold out at newsstands shortly after going on sale Wednesday morning. But despite an increased print run of 5 million copies, the 16-page issue of the satritical newspaper sold out before dawn in Paris for the second straight day.
Some 60,000 copies of the weekly newspaper are usually published. The new issue was translated into six languages and is being distributed internationally for the first time.
The latest edition features a cartoon on its cover depicting the prophet Mohammed holding a sign that says "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") — the slogan adopted in support of the weekly after last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. The headline above the prophet's head reads, "All is forgiven." Under Islam, depictions of the prophet are forbidden.
En route to the Philippines on Thursday, Pope Francis spoke about the Paris attack, defending freedom of speech but also saying there are limits and that "you can't make a toy out of the religions of others." The pontiff defended freedom of expression as not only a fundamental human right but a duty to speak one's mind for the sake of the common good "without offending."
"You cannot provoke," Francis said. "You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit. Every religion has its dignity."
Contributing: The Associated Press