Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos Oil, has been strongly criticised by both the head of the Chechen Republic and the Chechen Parliamentary speaker for comments made after the terrorist attacks in Paris. Ramazan Kadyrov and Dukuvaha Abdurakhmanov both spoke out about the former oil tycoon when he urged journalists around the world to reprint the infamous cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in support of the Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Khadyrov made his strongly worded condemnation on his Instagram page. He said that Khodorkovsky’s call to journalists to risk a repeat of the Parisian tragedy by publishing the caricatures had come at a time when the French authorities were busy with their investigations into what had happened. He said that the French were working hard to prevent any further escalation of tensions, and calls like those made by Khodorkovsky were widely condemned. He went on to say that Khodorkovsky had “declared himself an enemy of Muslims all over the world.”
Abdurakhmanov, as parliamentary speaker, claimed that Khodorkovsky’s comments had been motivated by a desire for publicity for himself.
The row comes in the aftermath of an attack by alleged Islamic extremists on Wednesday morning last week on the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo -a satirical weekly magazine. Twelve people lost their lives, including two police officers and several cartoonists. Threats had previously been made against the magazine for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, and the magazine had just published a caricature of the leader of the Islamic State group on its Twitter account before the attack began.
