Iran retaliates against France for Ayatollah Khamenei's cartoons in 'Charlie Hebdo'

On December 8, 2022, Charlie Hebdo launched a cartoon contest of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Guide of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
06 January 2023 Friday 13:31
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Iran retaliates against France for Ayatollah Khamenei's cartoons in 'Charlie Hebdo'

On December 8, 2022, Charlie Hebdo launched a cartoon contest of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Guide of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The magazine's intent was "to support the Iranians' fight for freedom by ridiculing their religious leader from another era, thereby consigning him to historical oblivion." A few weeks later, after receiving more than 300 cartoons (and thousands of threats), the magazine has published a selection of 35 of the works received, which has aroused the anger of the Iranian mullahs.

After threatening "a firm and effective response" to the cartoons, Iran has announced the closure of the French Institute for Research in Iran (Ifri), a cultural body under the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Iranian authorities had warned France on Wednesday that they would take action after the publication that same day by Charlie Hebdo of these cartoons starring Iran's top religious and political figure.

The end of Ifri's activities in Tehran is "a first step" in Iranian reprisals, according to a statement from the Islamic country's Foreign Ministry cited by France Presse. The institute, which organizes conferences and hosts fellow researchers, was created in 1983 after the merger of the French Archaeological Delegation in Iran, founded in 1897, and the French Institute of Iranology, founded in 1947.

Last Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry informed the French ambassador, Nicolas Roche, that "France has no right to insult the sanctities of other nations and Islamic countries under the pretext of freedom of expression." Iranian diplomacy spokesman Nasser Kanaani told Roche that the Islamic republic "holds the French government responsible for these disgusting, sacrilegious and unjustified actions."

On the same day, the head of Iranian diplomacy, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, wrote on Twitter: “The insulting and inappropriate decision of a French newspaper to publish a cartoon against the political and religious authority will not go without a firm and effective response. We do not allow the French government to cross the line. They have taken a wrong path."

The French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, replied: "Let us simply remember that in France freedom of the press exists, unlike in Iran, and it is exercised under the control of judges within the framework of an independent judiciary, something that Iran he certainly knows badly”.

The cartoons published in the satirical newspaper were selected as part of a contest launched in December, as demonstrations continued in Iran to protest the death in custody on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman arrested for violating the strict dress code. from the country.

Khamenei's drawings appear in a special edition of Charlie Hebdo on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the attack on January 7, 2015. On that day, two jihadists armed with Kalashnikovs stormed the weekly's office and killed 12 people for having caricatured Muhammad. .

Khamenei's 35 cartoons are a selection of 300 submitted by cartoonists from around the world. In addition to commemorating the attack, the special issue coincides with a wave of protests against the regime in Iran that has lasted for months.

"It was a way of showing our support for the Iranians who are risking their lives to defend their freedom against the theocracy that has oppressed them since 1979," writes Riss, director of the weekly. “It was also a way of remembering that the reasons why Charlie's cartoonists and editors were killed eight years ago, unfortunately, are still topical. Those who refuse to submit to the dictates of religions risk paying with their lives”, he adds.

The fold-out cover is occupied entirely by a drawing by Riss himself in which a line of ayatollahs can be seen entering a naked woman's vagina. The title is: Mullahs, go back to where you came from.