‘Charlie Hebdo’ giving $4m to victims

Charlie Hebdo, the satirical newspaper whose staff was decimated by Islamic extremist gunmen and then beset by internal tensions over an unexpected influx of donations and readers, said yesterday it will turn over all the money to victims of the three days of attacks in January.

A pair of French-born brothers killed 12 people — most of them journalists — during an editorial meeting on January 7.

The publication was targeted for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The three days of attacks, co-ordinated with a third man targeting a kosher supermarket and policewoman, left a total of 17 dead before the gunmen were shot to death in police raids.

Suddenly flush with cash from donations and a global readership, the weekly saw high tension among surviving staff, in large part over the money.

After a handful of prominent departures and new arrivals, it has largely returned to its original mission of skewering politics, religion and other institutions with its usual mix of profanity, obscenity and raw humour.

In a statement yesterday, Charlie Hebdo said it would turn over nearly €4m ($4.4m) from 84 countries, and that the French government had appointed an oversight committee to determine how the money would be redistributed in coming weeks.

Among those deeply affected by the attacks were not just the families of the dead, but also people taken hostage and wounded in a supermarket, as well as the printer whose company was shut down after the brothers holed up there for hours.

The paper expressed “gratitude to the donors and those who, freely and in total discretion, wanted to take part in the collection and redistribution of these donations.”

Meanwhile, Austrian authorities are investigating two men arrested several days ago for possible links to the November 13 Paris terror attacks, which killed 130 people.

State prosecutor Robert Holzleitner said the pair — arrested during the weekend in a refugees’ shelter in Salzburg — are suspected of “participation in a terrorist organisation”, with investigations focused on their possible connection to the Paris attacks.

Mr Holzleitner said the suspects arrived in Europe from the Middle East but refused to give further details, saying that would jeopardise the investigation.