On December 19, 2022, the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian while addressing a press conference in Tehran strongly condemned the controversial French magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing caricatures of the country’s top religious authority, and warned of a “decisive” response.
The French controversial magazine, Charlie Hebdo has a long history of publishing derogatory and sacrilegious cartoons in the name of freedom of expression. Back in September 2020, it republished blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUHH) that were first released in 2015, sparking anger and outrage across the Muslim world.
Similarly, the magazine has also adopted an aggressive anti-Iranian stance since the outbreak of foreign-backed riots in September 2022 releasing some cartoons deemed offensive and insulting by Iranian authorities. In early December 2022, the magazine had announced a competition for producing caricatures of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader. Thus, in a special issue later this week, Charlie Hebdo published several insulting cartoons of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei.
On Sunday, January 9, 2023, a large group of Iranian protesters gathered in front of France’s embassy in Tehran to express their anger while holding placards to condemn the publication. The protesters set fire to France’s national flag and chanted slogans against France, the US, Britain and the Israeli regime.
Similar protests were also held in Iran’s holy city of Qom. In a statement, the religious seminary students urged the French government to stop its support for such irrational sacrilegious moves under the pretense of advocating freedom of expression.
