Charlie Hebdo is a satirical weekly which often targeted different religions including Islam.
Charlie Hebdo was set up in 1969 as 'Hara-Kiri' and was edited by French author, Francois Cavanna.
It first appeared from 1969 to 1981; it folded, but was resurrected in 1992. Philippe Val, a French comedian, singer and journalist, edited it till 2009.
Hara-Kiri was once banned for publishing a mock death of French President Charles de Gaulle.
Stephanie Carbonnier, known as 'Charb' took over the editorship in 2012.
In the same year, a cartoon appeared in the pages of Charlie Hebdo depicting the Prophet Muhammad naked and crouching.
Due to controversial Prophet Muhammad-themed cartoons, the magazine in 2011 experienced a firebombing and a shooting attack on January 7, 2015.
According to its former editor, Charb, the magazine's editorial viewpoint reflects all components of left wing pluralism, and even abstainers.
47-year-old Charb had received death threats in the past for the magazine's content. He was provided police protection and his two bodyguards were also killed in the shooting. He was among 12 killed in an attack on the magazine's office in Paris on January 07, 2014.
Earlier, the publication's website was also hacked. It was replaced with an image of Mecca.
In 2006, it had sparked controversy by front page headline which read as - Mohammed overwhelmed by the fundamentalists. They reprinted the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed which had originally appeared in a Danish newspaper together with a new one of its own.
Depictions of the prophet are strictly prohibited in the Islamic faith. In 2007, two French Muslim groups sued the newspaper for the same. The case was rejected in French courts citing that the cartoons were covered by freedom of expression laws and were not an attack on Islam, but fundamentalists.
