The same offensive sketches were published by the magazine in 2015. Charlie Hebdo reprinted the insulting sketches on the eve of the trial of suspects of a deadly attack on the paper’s Paris offices in 2015. The attack killed 12 people, 8 of them were among Charlie Hebdo's staff.
Following the insulting move, a group of clerics of the Republic of Azerbaijan based in the holy Iranian city of Qom, along with other Muslim of Iran and the world, staged demonstrations on Saturday to condemn the vicious act of this French Zionist publication and issued a statement at the end of the rallie
The statement reads, "Insulting Islam and racist behavior and provocative actions against Muslims by Christian Zionists that are planned and published in the media and press lead to the violence of terrorist acts by radical groups in the world."
“We, the clergy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, declare that the hateful anti-Muslim propaganda cannot be called religious freedom, and we consider such approach to be very unwise and wrong.”
“The main goal of global Zionism and imperialism is to divert public opinion from the developments in the West Asian region, especially the developments in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Palestine,” the statement adds.
Referring to the remarks of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the statement urges the Islamic Ummah to be vigilant about such events and never forget the evil intentions of the enemies of Islam and the deceitful politicians of the West against Islam.
The statement concluded, “It should be noted that Charlie Hebdo published a cartoon against the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) with the support of various Zionist governments and institutions, while some countries defend it under the pretext of supporting freedom of speech, which is strongly condemned by all freedom seekers in the world.”
MR/PR