Charlie Hebdo plans print run of up to 3 mil for next issue,with Muhammad on cover

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The French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo will feature the Prophet Muhammad on the cover of its next issue, due to be published Wednesday, and has planned an unprecedented print run of up to 3 million copies.

Michael Salion, a spokesman for the magazine's distributor, said that 1 million issues would be available Wednesday and Thursday. Another 2 million could then be printed depending on demand.

"We have requests for 300,000 copies throughout the world - and demand keeps rising by the hour," Salion said. "The million will go. As of Thursday, the decision will probably be taken to print extra copies... So we'll have one million, plus two if necessary."

The issue is the magazine's first to be published since 12 people, including eight of its staffers, were murdered by two Islamist gunmen linked to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Late Monday, the website of the left-wing newspaper Liberation revealed the issue's cover, which depicts the Prophet Muhammad. In the cartoon, Muhammad is shown with a tear streaming down his cheek, and holding a sign: "Je Suis Charlie" -- "I Am Charlie." Overhead is the phrase "Tout est pardonne", or "All is forgiven." French media have interpreted the latter message to mean that Muhammad is forgiving the cartoonists for lampooning him.

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