Members of Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) gathered in a bookstore in Sanlitun, Beijing, to pay tribute to the victims of a shooting at the office of weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, on January 7, 2015. The photo shows members of FCCC holding placards reading "I am Charlie" in Chinese and French at the event. [Photo/CFP]

The two heavily armed perpetrators of the deadly attack on the offices of Paris-based satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Jan 7, were killed when police cornered them in northeast Paris on Friday. The two brothers, Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, killed 12 people, eight journalists, two police officers, a caretaker and a visitor in their killing spree.

Of course, one has no sympathy whatsoever for the terrorists. China strongly condemned the deadly terrorist attack, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, on Thursday. Yet, the tragedy also brought forward an important question for all media outlets: What on earth are the boundaries between respect for religion and freedom of the press?

The widely recognized press freedom compromises freedom of publication, communication, news gathering, and expression. It was further stressed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, passed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1966, that all people have the right to freely air their opinions without interference (Article 19).

Even so, all journalists should strictly abide by journalistic ethics. For devout believers, the abuse of such freedom (such as insulting religion) may cause as much damage as "killing them".

Western media such as Charlie Hebdo, have given a full play to their freedom of expression in lampooning religions or politicians. Charlie Hebdo caricatured Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Jyllands-Posten, a Danish daily, also provoked fury across the Muslim world by publishing cartoons that mocked Muhammad in 2005.

It has often seemed that some Western media publications fully enjoy their rights under the ICCPR, yet fail to bear in mind the following Article 20: "prohibition of any propaganda for war as well as any advocacy of national or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence by law ".