Iran closes French institute over Charlie Hebdo cartoons

Iran shut down a decades-old French analysis institute over cartoons revealed by the French satirical journal Charlie Hebdo.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks throughout a gathering with the members of the Expediency Discernment Council in Tehran (Photo: Reuters/File)

By Associated Press: Iran on Thursday shut down a decades-old French analysis institute in response to cartoons revealed by the French satirical journal Charlie Hebdo that mocked the nation’s ruling clerics.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry known as the closure of the French Institute for Research in Iran a “first step” in response to the cartoons, which the journal had billed as a present of assist for anti-government demonstrations which have convulsed Iran for almost 4 months.

The ministry mentioned it might “seriously pursue the case and take the required measures” to carry France accountable. On Wednesday, Iran summoned the French ambassador to complain concerning the cartoons.

Also Read | Iran summons French envoy over ‘insulting’ cartoons of its chief Ayatollah Khamenei

The shuttered analysis institute, which is related to the French Foreign Ministry, was created in 1983 by the merger of an archaeological delegation relationship again to the late nineteenth century and an institute of Iran research. It features a library boasting some 49,000 references, together with 28,000 books.

On Thursday, there was a heavy safety presence across the institute and the close by French Embassy in central Tehran. Graffiti left on the outer partitions — apparently by authorities supporters — referred to France as “the home of homosexuals” and a “place of blasphemy.”

Charlie Hebdo has an extended historical past of publishing vulgar cartoons mocking Islamists, which critics say are deeply insulting to Muslims. Two French-born al-Qaida extremists attacked the newspaper’s workplace in 2015, killing 12 cartoonists, and it has been the goal of different assaults through the years.

Also Read | Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei vows revenge after lethal assault on Shiite pilgrims

Its newest concern options the winners of a current cartoon contest by which entrants have been requested to attract essentially the most offensive caricatures of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

One of the finalists depicts a turbaned cleric reaching for a hangman’s noose as he drowns in blood, whereas one other exhibits Khamenei clinging to a large throne above the raised fists of protesters. Others depict extra vulgar and sexually specific scenes.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Wednesday vowed a “decisive and effective response” to the publication of the cartoons, which he mentioned had insulted Iran’s non secular and political authorities.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna accused Iran of following “bad politics.”

Iran “is not only practicing violence against its own people but is also practicing a policy of keeping people hostage, which is particularly shocking,” she mentioned Thursday on LCI tv.

“In France, not only does freedom of the press exist — unlike what happens in Iran — it is also exercised under the control of judges and an independent justice system, which is something that Iran undoubtedly knows little about. Also in French law we do not have the notion of blasphemy.”

She didn’t reply on to the ambassador being summoned or expressly defend Charlie Hebdo. The French authorities, whereas defending free speech, has rebuked the privately-owned journal up to now for fanning tensions.

Iran has been gripped by nationwide protests for almost 4 months following the demise in mid-September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl who had been detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the nation’s strict Islamic costume code.

Women have taken the lead within the protests, with many stripping off the obligatory Islamic scarf in public. The protesters have known as for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling clerics in one of many largest challenges to their rule for the reason that 1979 Islamic Revolution that introduced them to energy.

Charlie Hebdo, which has revealed equally offensive cartoons about useless little one migrants, virus victims, neo-Nazis, popes, Jewish leaders and different public figures, presents itself as an advocate for democracy and free expression. But it routinely pushes the bounds of French hate speech legal guidelines with typically sexually specific caricatures that focus on almost everybody.

The paper drew hearth for reprinting caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad that have been initially revealed by a Danish journal in 2005. Those cartoons have been seen as sacrilegious and deeply hurtful to Muslims worldwide. Islamist teams all over the world organized demonstrations, lots of which turned violent, in addition to boycotts of Danish merchandise.

Posted By:

Manisha Pandey

Published On:

Jan 5, 2023