Iranian Religious Minorities,Officials Condemn Macron’s Anti-Islam Comments

Date: 30 October 2020 - 21:49

News ID: ۸۴۳۱۲

TEHRAN (Dispatches) - Iranian religious minority leaders have strongly condemned French President Emmanuel Macron’s support for sacrilegious cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBHU).
In a summit in the capital Tehran, Christian, Zoroastrian, and Jewish leaders rejected insults to religious sanctities under the pretext of freedom of speech.
They also emphasized the importance of mutual respect, adding that free speech does not mean insulting others’ belief.
They described as unacceptable Macron’s anti-Islam rhetoric, warning that such stance will lead to further provocations and chaos. They underlined that Macron’s remarks show his own weakness and offend Muslims as well as all freedom seekers around the world.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to show serious reaction to the French president’s backing for the insults to the Prophet of Islam, a lawmaker said.
The spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Abolfazl Amoee said members of the commission have sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Amoee said the lawmakers have asked the Foreign Ministry to show serious reaction to the recent comments from the president of France, who has supported an offensive move by a satirical magazine to publish defamatory cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Denouncing Emmanuel Macron’s anti-Islamic move as an attempt to whitewash the domestic problems in France, Amoee said the French officials are trying to draw the public attention away from the political problems that have plagued their country.
Former Iranian Defense Minister Hussein Dehqan also blasted the French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent Islamophobic remarks, stressing that he is the main cause of the recent unrest in the country.
"French President Macron is the main culprit of recent events in France,” Dehqan wrote in a French post on his Twitter page, emphasizing that no Muslim resorts to violence to express his opinion.
"All of us are the children of Prophet Abraham (PBUH) and we worship the same God. A terrorist act is not only killing citizens but also insulting the Prophet of Islam,” he continued.
The military aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader reiterated that Macron must apologize to all Muslims immediately.
"There is no double standard in freedom,” he stated.
In recent weeks and after a French teacher was beheaded by a terrorist Daesh member after he displayed cartoons of the prophet of Islam, French President Emmanuel Macron attacked Islam and the Muslim community, accusing Muslims of "separatism”, and he said previously that "Islam is a religion in crisis all over the world”.
The incident in Paris coincided with a provocative move by Charlie Hebdo, a left-wing French magazine infamous for publishing anti-Islamic content, which has drawn widespread anger and outrage across the Muslim world.
The caricatures were first published in 2006 by a Danish newspaper Jylllands Posten, sparking a wave of protests.
In recent weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron has attacked Islam and the Muslim community, accusing Muslims of "separatism” and claiming that "Islam is a religion in crisis all over the world.”
Macron has also approved the publication of blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad and stressed that his country would not give up the insulting cartoons despite harsh criticisms from Muslims.
Moreover, French teacher Samuel Paty raised controversy and provoked anger over showing defamatory cartoons of the holy Prophet to his students. Paty was decapitated by an 18-year-old assailant, identified as Chechen Abdullakh Anzorov, who was shot dead by police soon after the killing.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has censured attempts by French politicians to link Muslims and Islam with terrorism, amid growing anti-Islam sentiment due to hostile policies adopted by the European state.
The French interior ministry said a total of 73 mosques, private schools, and workplaces had been shut down since January "in the fight against radicalization.”