The response was quick. Tehran warned Paris on Wednesday that it would react after the publication of “insulting” cartoons of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The French weekly published earlier in the day dozens of cartoons featuring the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic Republic.
They are cartoons selected as part of a contest launched in December to support ‘Iranians fighting for their freedom’ as protests escalated in Iran following the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd arrested for allegedly breaking the country’s strict dress code for women.
“The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against religious and political authority will not go without an effective and firm response,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter. “We will not allow the French government to overstep the mark. He definitely went the wrong way,” he added.
Special edition
Authorities say hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed and thousands more arrested in what they generally describe as “riots”. They accuse foreign powers and opposition groups of stirring up trouble.
Charlie Hebdo published the cartoons in a special edition for the anniversary of the deadly attack on its Paris office on January 7, 2015. The latter was perpetrated by attackers claiming to be acting on behalf of Al-Qaeda to avenge the decision of the newspaper to publish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The publication of these cartoons caused a lot of anger in Muslim countries, and the 2015 attacks brought a wave of support to the magazine around the world.