The City of Lights is beginning the healing process after enduring a brutal terrorist attack against the satirical weekly magazine, Charlie Hebdo. The magazine was created in 1970 and adhered to the mission statement, “It is forbidden to forbid.” Charlie Hebdo was an equal opportunity offender. No politician, religion, business, or famous person was exempt. The cartoons were edgy and irreverent.

For example, in Slate on Wednesday, Miriam Krule translated and commented on the cover featuring Pope Benedict XVI holding a condom above his head as if it were the Eucharist.

Other covers include God being sodomized by Jesus Christ, who is in turn being sodomized by a triangle that signifies the Holy Spirit. Michael Jackson was drawn as a skeleton grabbing his crotch. And, of course, there were the many cartoons giving a poke at Islam.

Considering the serious nature of poking fun at Islam, one would think that the Arab world newspapers would have celebrated the attack on Charlie Hebdo. As complied on MIC, here are a few examples of Arab world editorial cartoons.

Lebanon

These two cartoons are from the An Nahar newspaper, with the first one reading “But… he called me a terrorist.”

The second one reads: “This is how we avenge the cartoonist’s killer.”

Qatar

The English-language newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed printed a powerful image of a pencil overpowering a bullet.

Egypt

This was drawn by Makhlouf, a young cartoonist for the Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The cartoonists in these countries embraced the risk of sanction for creating these drawings that criticize the actions of the Islamic extremists. Instead, they stood in solidarity for freedom of speech and expression.

For more about attack in Paris, click here.

On Sunday, David Cameron and Angela Merkel will walk side by side with French President François Hollande during the March for Unity in a show of solidarity in the wake of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish grocery store that left 17 dead. Security will be extra tight, with over 150 plainclothes officers intermixed in the crowd and security forces closing down the streets surrounding the march.

As reported by the Telegraph, U.S. President Barack Obama offered his support, saying the following.

“I want the people of France to know that the United States stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow.”

On Saturday, more than 200,000 people took part in silent marches across France to pay tribute to those killed in the nation’s bloodiest week in more than half a century. Much larger crowds are expected on Sunday.

[Images: Imgur, CCTV]