Iran's warning to France on cartoons of supreme leader in Charlie Hebdo magazine

Agencies | Tehran

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Iran summoned France's ambassador over publication of cartoons of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The weekly magazine published cartoons which seem to mock Ayatollah Khamenei as part of a competition that it started in December in support of nationwide protests in Iran which began last September.

“France has no right to insult the sanctities of other Muslim countries and nations under the pretext of freedom of expression,” Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanani said.

“Iran is waiting for the French government’s explanation and compensatory action in condemning the unacceptable behaviour of the French publication," the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile Iran's 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.”

“We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path," he added.

Charlie Hebdo has been at the centre of controversies in France and the world.

In January 2015 the magazine was targeted in a deadly attack for publishing cartoons of prophet Muhammad.

Charlie Hebdo’s director Laurent Sourisseau said, “It was a way to show our support for Iranian men and women who risk their lives to defend their freedom against the theocracy that has oppressed them since 1979."

All the cartoons published had “the merit of defying the authority that the supposed supreme leader claims to be, as well as the cohort of his servants and other henchmen”, he added in an editorial.