Egyptian cartoonists have marked their condemnation of Wednesday's deadly attack on the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo by inking more cartoons. Young cartoonist Makhlouf, drew a caricature of himself holding up his hand in what looks like a military salute, but with an oversized pen in the place of the gun expected to be on his shoulder. He also drew a portrait of himself holding up a pencil in the face of an assailant wearing a balaclava, with almost alien-like eyes, as he points a gun at him. In another powerful cartoon, artist Anwar depicts a French cartoonist, smiling, as he draws a smile with a red-stained brush, on the balaclava of an assailant holding up a gun. Similarly, Makhlouf drew a third cartoon showing a fighter with a gun running away from a large smiling face that appears to be coming after him. Together Makhlouf and Anwar also wrote short profiles in the privately-owned daily Al-Masry Al-Youm on the French cartoonists killed in the attack. Artist Hicham Rahma, meanwhile, drew three fighters, with "ISIS" labeled on their turbans, and one of them saying "this was a hard day,” while another has a CIA official hidden inside his turban. Cartoonists signed their fresh drawings with the French words "Je suis Charlie" [I am Charlie] which has become a global statement of support for the magazine. Makhlouf and other cartoonists including Doaa El-Adl and Abdallah have written statements of support on their public Facebook pages. On his Facebook page, Makhlouf wrote a "Letter to the Masked" where he addressed the assailants saying cartoonists shall continue their work. "We do not need more deaths to know that you are coward. After you killed cartoonist Naji Al-Ali [influential Palestinian cartoonist killed in 1987], and your bullet settled in his head… his head that frustrated and threatened you… we knew that our weapon is stronger than yours," he wrote. Makhlouf also pointed out that Charlie Hebdo has been critical of their French government and other religions, not just Islam. He closed off by bidding farewell to the dead cartoonists describing them as "great, brave and strong". At least 12 people, mostly journalists, were killed in Paris on Wednesday when gunmen opened fire on them inside the Charlie Hebdo office. The incident has sparked worldwide fury and sparked debates on freedom of expression. The satirical magazine is known for its controversial cartoons on political and religious leaders and has published numerous drawings lampooning the Islamic Prophet Mohamed. Egypt's journalists syndicate has said the assailants who staged the attack "can not belong to any religion, especially Islam. They are only savage killers". Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Al-Azhar, the country's highest Islamic institution, also condemned the attack. ## ## ## ## http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/119789.aspx
