'Je Suis Charlie' and criticised the hypocrisy of world leaders marching in the name of free speech while suppressing

He also reflected on the international movement of 'Je Suis Charlie' and criticised the hypocrisy of world leaders marching in the name of free speech while suppressing press rights in their own countries.

He said: 'All of a sudden, Saudi Arabia says 'I am Charlie' but it is not.' 

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A general view shows firefighters, police officers and forensics gathered in front of the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris on January 7, 2015, after armed gunmen stormed the offices

When asked how he managed to survive the massacre just over three weeks ago, he said: 'How can I put this? I was lucky.

'It was my birthday, the January 7, and I stayed in bed with my wife for a long time.'

He explained she had made cakes and coffee and he was running late for the office meeting.

When he arrived at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, people told him not to enter the building as two armed men had just gone in.

He said: 'We tried to understand what was going on. We could not go in, we felt something was strange.

'And then we heard the first gunshots.'

He describes how he walked back up the street and saw two men dressed in black, who started shooting in his direction.

When he swiped into the building, he said: 'I walked up the stairs. I started seeing bloody footsteps.

'I understood later this was my friend's blood.

'I saw that there were people on the ground. On their backs. I saw a friend on the ground, his face against the floor.'

'What's strange is that you can never be prepared for this.'

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He also reflected on the international movement iof 'Je Suis Charlie' and criticised the hypocrisy of world leaders marching in the name of free speech while suppressing press rights in their own countries

Growing more distressed, he said that in the immediate aftermath medics needed belts to make tourniquets, but he was not wearing a belt that day - adding that Paris was not prepared for such events.

He said: 'But it happens in Syria, in Africa, in some other places. We're not used to this fear, this terror, but a lot of people are.' 

Ms Larsson said: 'There are people around the world saying they are Charlie, what do you think Charlie is symbolising and what do you feel about it?

He spoke at length about the time their offices were burnt down for depicting the prophet Mohammed.

He describe dhow following that event they were called both agitators and white knights defending free speech.

'But then, all at once, everyone was saying 'I am Charlie' and for ourselves becoming a symbol is difficult,' he said. 'Because Charlie fought against symbols.

'How do we burst the bubble of this symbol? The symbol we've become? 

'Humour doesn't kill anyone. We can't be prisoners of the sense of humour of others.'

French President Francois Hollande is surrounded by heads of state including David Cameron, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

 When asked if he was ever concerned that some of his cartoons offend Muslim communities, he replied: 'I think that most Muslims don't care about Charlie Hebdo.

'Those who claim all Muslims are offended take Muslims for imbeciles, I think.

'We don't take Muslims for imbeciles.'

He described how he hugged a Muslim friend of Charb's at the editor's funeral, and how the Muslim man cried and told him he was sorry. Luz told the man he had no reason to be apologising, and the two men cried together.

Towards the end of the interview he showed the reporter how they 'had a laugh' making a blank Charlie Hebdo newspaper 'which wouldn't offend anyone.'

He said: 'This is the magazine of those saying 'I am Charlie, but.'

Luz described how he hugged a Muslim friend of Charb's at the editor's funeral, and how the Muslim man cried and told him he was sorry. Luz told the man he had no reason to be apologising, and the two men cried together

When asked his opinion of the march of millions of people and world leaders that he was a part of, he said that while he is happy that people are supporting them, the hypocrisy of some world leaders 'makes him sad'.

He said: 'When I saw Hollande at the march, a pigeon s*** on him. It was great.

'I told him "You're about to have lunch with many heads of state, tell them to allow their people to laugh at them through drawings and newspapers."

'What an irony to see that behind us was a representative from Saudi Arabia, where the blogger Badawi is in jail for 10 years, where they lash him every week.

'All of a sudden, Saudi Arabia says 'I am Charlie' but it is not.

'They are no Charlie when the put a blogger in jail and whip him. That's not being Charlie.

'And it makes me really sad.'