Caricatures of Charlie Hebdo cannot be regarded in the context of true freedom of speech, experts on Northern Caucasus believe

Dozens of editions from the Russian segment of Internet have posted photos of the latest Charlie Hebdo issue with caricatures on Prophet Muhammad. The experts on Northern Caucasus questioned by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted the difference in understanding the freedom of speech by members of the Muslim community and by proponents of the Western culture.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that actions in memory of the victims of the terror act in Paris committed after the publication by Charlie Hebdo of caricatures on Prophet Muhammad took place on January 8 in many countries around the world.

On January 12, the "Roskomnadzor" (the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) conducted a preventive action addressed to a number of federal and regional media, having reminded them about the norms of the Russian legislation, which prohibit the use of mass media for extremist activities.

The publication of caricatures on Prophet Muhammad by Russian media will have legal consequences for the editions and their managers, said Svetlana Kuzevanova, a media lawyer from the "Media Rights Defence Centre".

Ruslan Kurbanov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that the conflict of the post-modern Western values with the Islamic ones will directly affect Northern Caucasus and Russia as a whole.

An initiative to acquaint people closer with the biography of Prophet Muhammad was put forward by the Council of Muftis of Russia and the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Moscow. The religious organizations have announced the first all-Russian contest of journalists about Prophet Muhammad under the motto of "Prophet of Mercy".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.