Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: charlie hebdo, iran

Iran Closes France Embassy Wing Over New Charlie Hebdo Cartoons

Today, Iran shut down the cultural wing of the French embassy in Tehran as Iran's foreign ministry summoned the French ambassador to Iran, Nicolas Roche,  in support of the Iranian protest movement. Specifically, the cartoons focused on Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanani stated that "France has no right to insult the sanctities of other Muslim countries and nations under the pretext of freedom of expression. Iran is waiting for the French government's explanation and compensatory action in condemning the unacceptable behaviour of the French publication." While the Iranian 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."

The Iranian government stated that they had reviewed cultural relations with France and decided to shut the French Institute for Research, stating "In reviewing cultural relations with France and examining the possibility of continuing French cultural activities in Iran, the ministry is ending the activities of the French Institute for Research in Iran as a first step."

Famously, Charlie Hebdo was subject to an Islamic terrorist attack, with a number of its staff and cartoonists murdered or injured, in 2015. The magazine was heavily satirical of Islam and its followers, publishing images of the Prophet Mohammed, but also of other religions, more notably Catholicism and its adherents. There was an almost universal response of unity in support of Charlie Hebdo in the wake of the gunman's attack, and in response the survivors of the attack published even more vehemently anti-Islamic cartoons. Protests in Iran have increased after the death of Mahsa Amini, allegedly killed after being detained by Iran's morality police for violating the country's dress code, and almost 500 people have been killed for protesting.

The most recent issue of Charlie Hebdo which may have led to the summoning, featured the winners of a contest to draw the most offensive caricatures of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Published for the eighth anniversary of the murders, the magazine's editorial by Charlie Hebdo's director, Laurent Sourisseau, known as Riss, read "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" and that the cartoons 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."

Le Monde describes some of the cartoons thus; "One cartoon shows Khamenei being punched with the slogan 'Women, Life, Freedom,' while another depicts a mullah being crushed under a heel. Among the very political drawings, the supreme leader is also depicted as Marilyn Monroe, whose dress is lifted by the wind of the headscarves that women have freed themselves from. In another, armed with stones, they pommel him."

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