January 4, 2023
Iran warned France on Wednesday it would respond after "insulting" cartoons depicting Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The weekly had published dozens of cartoons on the same day ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic republic.
The magazine said the cartoons were part of a competition it launched in December in support of the protests triggered by the September 16 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women.
"The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response," tweeted Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
"We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path," he said.
The French magazine said the contest aimed "to support the struggle of Iranians who are fighting for their freedom."
Iranian authorities say hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed and thousands arrested in what they generally describe as "riots," and have accused hostile foreign powers and opposition groups of stoking the unrest.
Charlie Hebdo published the caricatures in a special edition to mark the anniversary of a deadly attack on its Paris office on January 7, 2015 by assailants who said they were acting on behalf of al Qaeda to avenge the magazine's decision to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Iran protests cartoons of Khamenei in Charlie Hebdo
January 4, 2023
Iran warned France on Wednesday that it would respond after "insulting" cartoons depicting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.Following the publication of cartoons depicting Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted:
"The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response. We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path."
The weekly published dozens of cartoons Wednesday ridiculing the top religious and political figure in Iran.
In December, the magazine launched a caricature competition, following months of protests triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Jina Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women.
'Support the struggle'
According to the magazine, the contest would "support the struggle of Iranians who are fighting for their freedom."
Iranian authorities have described the protests as "riots" and say hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed and thousands of civilians have been arrested. The government has alleged that hostile foreign powers and opposition groups are stoking the unrest.
Charlie Hebdo published the caricatures in a special edition to mark the anniversary of a deadly attack on its Paris office on January 7, 2015, by assailants who said they were acting on behalf of al-Qaida to avenge the magazine's decision to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer shot dead in Tehran
January 4, 2023
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer identified as Qasem Fezalahi was killed late Tuesday outside his home in the capital Tehran, officials confirmed Wednesday, saying an investigation is underway to clarify the incident.
Tehran Police spokesman Ali Sabahi told the Iranian news agency Tasnim that Fezulahi, a member of the Revolutionary Guards in Greater Tehran, was shot by unidentified persons, with no claim of responsibility so far.
"Police experts in the capital are investigating the incident from various dimensions," he said, adding that the authorities will give details about the case once the investigations progress.
The Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia have been blamed for the violent crackdown on protests since September over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman arrested in Tehran for allegedly wearing the veil incorrectly.
Reza Dastani, a member of the Revolutionary Guard, was killed in November in Isfahan, just days after the death in a bomb attack of Colonel Davud Yafari near the Syrian capital Damascus, an event blamed on Israel by the Iranian authorities.
Tehran also accused Israel of being behind the assassination of Colonel Hassan Sayad Jodaei in front of his residence in Tehran in May 2021. Jodaei was deputy commander of a unit of the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force.
Fezulahi's assassination took place on the day Iran commemorated the third anniversary of the death of Qasem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force, in a U.S.-executed bombing of the airport in Iraq's capital Baghdad, where he had arrived on a secret visit.
Soleimani
was one of the victims of a drone attack – which led the Iraqi Parliament to
demand the departure of international troops from the country - perpetrated by
the United States, which also included Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, then 'number two'
of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) - a coalition of Iraqi pro-government
militias supported by Iran.
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