Thursday, January 05, 2023

Iran Warns France over ‘Insulting’ Cartoons Depicting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

THE GUARDIAN: Publication by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo ‘will not go without effective response’, says Tehran foreign minister

Ayatollah Khameni, Iran’s supreme leader, pictured in May 2021. Photograph: Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock

Iran has summoned the French ambassador over publication of caricatures of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The weekly magazine published dozens of cartoons ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic republic as part of a competition it launched in December in support of the protest movement that began in Iran last September.

Later on Wednesday, Iran’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the French ambassador, Nicolas Roche.

“France has no right to insult the sanctities of other Muslim countries and nations under the pretext of freedom of expression,” said a foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanani. “Iran is waiting for the French government’s explanation and compensatory action in condemning the unacceptable behaviour of the French publication.”

The foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, tweeted: “The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response.” » | AFP in Paris | Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Lire l'article suivant en français :

L’Iran ferme un institut français après la publication par « Charlie Hebdo » de caricatures : Pour son numéro spécial « 7 janvier », date anniversaire de l’attentat contre « Charlie Hebdo » en 2015, l’hebdomadaire satirique a choisi de soutenir les Iraniennes et les Iraniens et d’infliger une « raclée aux mollahs », selon les termes de la « une ». »