On Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the French president’s defence of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed a stupid act and an insult to those who voted for him.
“Ask your president why he supports insulting God’s messenger in the name of freedom of expression. Does freedom of expression mean insulting, especially a sacred personage?” Khamenei said in a message to French youth on his official website.
“Isn’t this stupid act an insult to the reason of the people who elected him?” he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron has strongly defended secular values and the right to mock religion following the murder of a French schoolteacher who had shown his class cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. His comments triggered protests and a call to boycott French goods in some Muslim-majority countries.
Khamenei said: “The next question to ask is, ‘why is it a crime to raise doubts about the holocaust?. Why should anyone who writes about such doubts be imprisoned, while insulting the Prophet, peace be upon him, is allowed?”
Khamenei’s remarks follow a chorus of criticism directed at Macron by top Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, who warned on Wednesday that insulting the prophet is immoral and may encourage violence and bloodshed.
