Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Western youths not to let the killings at a French satirical magazine prejudice their view of Islam.
There’s a “flood of prejudgments and disinformation campaigns” against the religion after Islamist gunmen killed 12 people at the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Khamenei said in a letter on his official website, addressed to “the youth in Europe and North America.”

“I would like you not to allow the derogatory and offensive image-buildings to create an emotional gulf between you and the reality,” Khamenei said in the letter.

Iranian officials have condemned the Charlie Hebdo cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, while also denouncing the deadly assault on the magazine’s offices. Iranian authorities last week closed the Mardom-e Emrooz newspaper after it quoted U.S. actor George Clooney as saying “I am Charlie,” a slogan widely used to express solidarity with the victims of the Paris attacks, the Tasnim news agency reported.

Khamenei urged Western youth in the letter to learn about Islam from primary and original sources through the Koran and life of Muhammad, rather than from media reports.

By Bloomberg

 

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