Iranian protesters slam Charlie Hebdo’s insulting cartoons
Thousands of Iranian people across the country took to the streets on Friday to condemn a French magazine’s insult to Muslim sanctities and Iran’s religious and national values.
According to Press TV, people attended the rallies after Friday prayers in major cities, including the capital Tehran.
Protesters voiced support for Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and chanted slogans against Western states and their hostile acts toward Iran and Islam.
The condemnation comes after Charlie Hebdo released several insulting cartoons of Ayatollah Khamenei in a special issue. The controversial right-wing magazine had in early December announced a competition for the cartoons.
Demonstrators issued a resolution, noting that the “insolent move” proves the enemies’ “grudge against Islam.”
The “desperate” measure of the French publication comes in continuation of the four-month-long Western support for riots in Iran, read the announcement.
This, it continued, shows nothing but the destruction of morality and spirituality, and the enemies’ “anger at the grandeur and shining school of Islam” as well as the resistance of the “faithful” Iranian nation.
The resolution called on Iran’s Judiciary to use “all legal capacities” to put perpetrators of insult to divine prophets and Shias' religious authority on trial and cooperate with other Muslim countries to prevent similar “heinous” actions.
It also urged the Foreign Ministry to make use of all available legal channels to compel the perpetrators and supporters of the insult to express apologies.
Nationwide protests come as a number of peaceful demonstrations have also been held in the past few days in front of the French embassy in Tehran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned French Ambassador Nicolas Roche on January 4, handing over to him an official note of protest.
The French magazine has a long history of publishing derogatory and sacrilegious cartoons in the name of freedom of expression.
ME
