French Attack Survivor Will Leave Charlie Hebdo; Cartoonist Luz Says Pressure Is Too Much to Bear

One of the few cartoonists to survive an Islamist militant attack on France's Charlie Hebdo journal -- best known for its cartoons mocking the Islam Prophet Mohammad -- is leaving the publication because he can no longer bear the pressure, the Religion News website reports today (May 19, 2015).

Renald Luzier -- better known simply as Luz -- announced his decision in an interview in Liberation, the newspaper that has housed Charlie Hebdo and helped it publish since an attack last January in which most of his cartoonist colleagues were killed. The Charlie Hebdo office was attacked by radical Muslims who believe cartoons against Mohammad are blasphemous.

"The time came when it was just all too much to bear. There was next to nobody to draw the cartoons. I ended up doing three or every four front-pages. Every print-run was torture because the others are no longer there," Luz said.

Luz drew the cover picture of a tearful Mohammad with the words "All is forgiven" on the first post-attack edition of Charlie Hebdo -- which sold some eight million copies across the world compared to a normal week's sales of around 60,000 -- but he had recently said he would no longer draw cartoons of  Mohammad because he was fed up with the matter.