French magazine publishes comic book 'The Life of Mohammed'

Satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo published a comic book biography of the Prophet Mohammed titled "The Life of Mohammed" on Wednesday. The magazines editor said "I don't think higher Muslim minds could find anything inappropriate."

The last time Charlie Hebdo published controversial cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed, French security forces were obliged to tighten security at their embassies abroad. Stephane Charbonnier, editor of the magazine, lives under police protection and in 2011 the offices of the magazine were firebombed. Now the magazine has published what could prove to be a controversial comic book. Charbonnier, a staunch defender of freedom of speech, insists the book is "a properly researched and educational work prepared by a Franco-Tunisian sociologist." According to the Telegraph the biographer is only known under the name of Zineb. France 24 reported. Charbonnier provided the cartoon illustrations. He said "It is a biography authorised by Islam since it was edited by Muslims." The Guardian reported Charbonnier told AFP the book is "'perfectly halal' because it was a compilation of all that had been written about the prophet in the past by Muslim writers and they had simply put it into images".