DHAKA: The chief editor of ‘Charlie Hebdo’ has defended the satirical magazine’s controversial depictions of Prophet Muhammad, saying the cartoons safeguard freedom of religion.

His comments were broadcast as five people were killed and churches set on fire in Niger on Saturday in fresh protests against the French weekly’s cover of the Prophet - Charlie Hebdo’s defiant riposte after two Islamist gunmen shot dead 12 people at the magazine in Paris.

Anger has mounted in several Muslim countries over Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures of the Prophet, as jittery European countries step up security to thwart a repeat of the attacks in France last week that killed 17 in all.

Gerard Biard, Charlie Hebdo’s chief editor, told NBC’s Meet the Press programme: ‘Every time we draw a cartoon of Muhammad, every time we draw a cartoon of prophets, every time we draw a cartoon of God, we defend the freedom of religion’.

In what NBC called his first interview with an American television network since the attack, Biard added, ‘We declare that God must not be a political or public figure. He must be a private figure. We defend the freedom of religion. Yes, it’s also the freedom of speech, but it’s the freedom of religion. Religion should not be a political argument’.

BDST: 1219 HRS, JAN 18, 2015