Hezbollah, a powerful pro-Iranian movement in Lebanon, on Tuesday condemned cartoons of the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader published by Charlie Hebdo and called on Paris to crack down on the satirical French newspaper.
“Hezbollah strongly condemns this heinous act […] we call on free and honest men around the world to denounce it,” the Shia party said in a statement, but without calling for demonstrations.
Charlie Hebdo published a series of cartoons on January 4 depicting the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who drew the wrath of Tehran.
“Imam Khamenei is not only the leader of a great country, he is a religious reference for millions of believers,” Hezbollah said.
The Shia movement “calls on the French government to take decisive action to punish the perpetrators of this act, who have attacked the sacred and disregarded the dignity of an entire nation.”
In response to the publication of the cartoons, Iran closed the French Institute for Research on Iran (IFRI), affiliated with the French Foreign Ministry, in Tehran last week.
And on Sunday, several dozen Iranians gathered in front of the French embassy in Tehran and burned French flags.
Charlie Hebdo said it released these cartoons to support the people of Iran as the country has been rocked for several months by unprecedented protests sparked by the September 16 death of a young Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, who was arrested after their arrest by morale died police.