The Iranian government described on Wednesday as “insulting” the decision of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo to open a contest to draw caricatures of the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and assured that it would not go unanswered.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hosein Amir Abdolahian warned on his Twitter account that “the insulting and indecent act of a French publication of publishing caricatures against religious and political authority will not go without a decisive and effective response.”
After this comment, made during the morning, the French ambassador in Tehran, Nicolas Roche, was called to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), where he received the regime’s protests.
In a statement, MNE spokesman Naser Kanani said Roche had been told that “Iran does not accept insults against its sacred and Islamic, religious or national values and that France has no right to justify insults against sacred values.” of others”. Muslim countries and nations under the pretext of freedom of expression”.
In the text, it was added that the Islamic Republic of Iran holds the French government responsible for the consequences of this act and that it “reserves the right to respond proportionally.”
The Iranian diplomat also added that Iran’s MNE submitted the official protest on the case to the ambassador and that “Iran is waiting for the explanation and compensatory action from the French government as a condemnation of the unacceptable behavior of the magazine.”
Charlie Hebdo recalled today on Twitter that he launched, on December 8, a caricature contest of the Iranian leader, as a symbol of the repression against women in Iran, where a series of protests have been taking place for months.
The satirical publication, which in 2015 suffered an attack that killed 12 people after publishing cartoons of Muhammad, claimed to have received more than 300 proposals and thousands of threats after launching the initiative.
Protests in Iran began in mid-September after the death in police custody of a 22-year-old girl for wearing a misplaced Islamic headscarf, according to police.
Subsequently, at least two thousand people were charged by the Iranian justice system with various crimes for their participation in the demonstrations, and death sentences have already been carried out.
On the other hand, several non-governmental organizations have said that more than 450 people have been murdered in recent months in the country, as a result of the forceful repression of the demonstrations by the police.
Source: TSF
