TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi condemned the French weekly, Charlie Hebdo, for publishing a cartoon of Islam's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and said the act has even been lambasted by the western religious and cultural bodies.
Addressing a gathering in the Central city of Qom on Wednesday, Pourmohammadi criticized the immoral act of Charlie Hebdo for repetition of the wrongful act blaspheming Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), saying that the cultural-religious bodies of the West have also condemned the wrongful act.

In relevant remarks on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at the western states for their double-standard approach towards different religions as a main contributor to spreading hatred and extremism in the world.

Rouhani referred to the sacrilegious cartoon of Islam's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) published by the French weekly Charlie Hebdo's recently, and said, "A magazine which is used as a weapon of prejudice is always full of bullets of insult and certain people sow the seeds of hatred and others harvest vengeance under the name of religion but with the sickle of massacre."

Speaking in Tehran on Wednesday, he lambasted the West's Islamophobia and double-standard policies on different religions, and said, "This serious warning to the western world is necessary that the big loser of these confrontations is the human civilization."

Noting that the present civilization owed a lot to all religions, Rouhani said, "If opposition to one minority (the Jews) is considered as a big crime but insulting the sanctities of another minority (Muslims) is ignored, no one can expect them (the second group) to tolerate."

His remarks came after the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, published a sacrilegious cartoon of Islam's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), only a week after gunmen murdered eight journalists and four others at its offices in Paris in retaliation for a cartoon released by the weekly of ISIL terrorist group's leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baqdadi.

The latest cartoon of Islam's prophet has hurt the sentiments of over a billion Muslims throughout the world and caused angry protests in many world states.

The Iranian foreign ministry deplored the publication of the blasphemous Cartoon, describing it as a "provocative" and "insulting" move.

"We condemn provocative moves and in our view, the weekly's action is insulting and we condemn it completely since it will provoke and hurt Muslims' feelings across the world and will create a sequence of extremism in the world," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said in Tehran earlier this month.

She stressed that respecting the beliefs, values and sanctities of different religions was a globally accepted principle and European statesmen are expected to heed such norms.

Afkham underscored that it was not enough for the western governments to admit to their wrong policies, and they needed to adopt correct decisions which serve the interests of the followers of all religions and nations.

Earlier this month, the ISIL terrorist group attacked the weekly after it released a cartoon of ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al-Baqdadi. At least 12 people were killed when masked gunmen stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo and opened fire.

Iranian officials condemned the attack, but warned that the incident should not be used as a pretext for accusing Islam or pressuring the Muslim community in the West, reminding that ISIL is not an Islamic group.

The same day, Afkham condemned the attack, and said any act of terrorism against innocent people is opposed to Islamic teachings.

By Fars News Agency

 

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