#FiredByCharlie Maurice Sinet, 80, who works under the pen name - TopicsExpress

#FiredByCharlie Maurice Sinet, 80, who works under the pen name Sine, faces charges of inciting racial hatred for a column he wrote last July in the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The piece sparked a summer slanging match among the Parisian intelligentsia and ended in his dismissal from the magazine. Charlie Hebdos editor, Philippe Val, asked Sinet to apologise but he refused, exclaiming: Id rather cut my balls off. Mr Vals decision to fire Sine was backed by a group of eminent intellectuals, including the philosopher Bernard-Henry Lévy, but parts of the libertarian Left defended him, citing the right to free speech.