An Iranian government-backed hacking team allegedly stole and leaked private customer data belonging to French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, security researchers at Microsoft said on Friday.
The magazine was hacked in early January after it published a series of cartoons that negatively depicted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The caricatures were part of a media campaign that Charlie Hebdo said was intended to support anti-government protests in the Islamic nation.
The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has warned France and the editors of Charlie Hebdo they may face the same fate as Salman Rushdie after more cartoons were published by the satirical magazine mocking Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader.
“I advise the French and directors of the Charlie Hebdo magazine to take a look at the fate of Salman Rushdie,” Major-General Hossein Salami said according to the Mehr news agency on Tuesday.
“I advise the French and directors of the Charlie Hebdo magazine to take a look at the fate of Salman Rushdie,” Major General Hossein Salami said on Tuesday during a ceremony in Zahedan in southeast Iran, where the heads of tribes, trustees, Shia and Sunni scholars, a group of respected family of the martyrs and a group of Sistan and Baluchistan province’s officials were also present
“Do not play with Muslims, Salman Rushdie insulted the Quran and the holy Prophet of Islam 30 years ago and hid in dangerous places,” the IRGC chief added.
“After many years, a young Muslim took brave revenge on Salman Rushdie and no one could save him. Where is he now? Which situation is he in? We don’t know,” he added.
French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo has come under fire for a cartoon which shows the Queen kneeling on Meghan Markle’s neck, drawing parallels to the death of George Floyd.
The publication, which has faced scrutiny before for its controversial drawings, has sparked outrage again just days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claimed they experienced open racism from family members and staff in the royal family.
French authorities have charged and detained four Pakistanis suspected of links to a meat cleaver attack by a compatriot outside the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo weekly that wounded two people, the national counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office has said.
The four male suspects, aged 17 to 21, were in contact with the attacker, a source familiar with the case said on Friday.
They are suspected of being aware of the attacker’s plot and inciting him to carry it out, according to another judicial source close to the investigation.
A court in France has convicted 14 people in relation to the January 2015 terror attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and a Jewish supermarket in Paris.
A total of 17 people were murdered across three days in a series of attacks that horrified the nation. All three assailants were killed in shootouts with the police, leaving only accomplices to face trial.
The defendants were found guilty on different charges, ranging from membership of a criminal network to complicity in the attacks. Terrorism-related charges were dropped for several of the defendants who were found guilty of lesser crimes.
