Lebanon’s powerful pro-Iranian movement, Hezbollah, on Tuesday condemned the cartoons depicting Iran’s supreme leader published by Charlie Hebdo and called on Paris to crack down on the satirical French newspaper.
“Hezbollah strongly condemns this hideous act (…) we call on free and honest people all over the world to denounce it,” the Shiite group said in a statement without, however, calling for demonstrations.
Charlie Hebdo published a series of cartoons on 4 January featuring the Islamic Republic of Iran’s most senior religious and political figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This drew the ire of Iran, which reacted by closing the French Research Institute in Iran (IFRI), affiliated to the French Foreign Ministry, last week in the Iranian capital.
'a religious reference for tens of millions of followers'
“Imam Khamenei is not just the leader of a great country, he is a religious reference for tens of millions of followers,” Hezbollah said. The Shiite movement called on the French government “to take firm measures to punish the perpetrators of this act, who have attacked what is sacred and violated the dignity of an entire nation.”
On Sunday, dozens of Iranians gathered outside the French embassy in Tehran, burning French flags.
Charlie Hebdo said it published the cartoons to support the people of Iran.
The country has been shaken for months by unprecedented protests triggered by the death on 16 September of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, following her arrest by the morality police.
