caricatures of Khamenei… and threats

Following the publication of caricatures of Iran’s supreme leader in the satirical media Charlie Hebdo, the Islamic regime announced the closure of a French institute in Tehran and criticized the government.

In a special issue dedicated to the tragic attacks of 2015, the satirical media Charlie Hebdo published this Wednesday several caricatures of Ali Khamenei, the highest religious and political figure in Iran. These drawings released as part of a cartoon competition launched by the satirical media were unveiled in the first issue 2023 of the year. On the sidelines of the competition, Charlie Hebdo considered that these drawings were “a way of showing [leur] support for Iranian men and women who risk their lives to defend their freedom against the theocracy which has oppressed them since 1979”. Since September 2022, the country has experienced a wave of protest against the regime following the arrest and assassination of Mahsa Amini by the morality police.

Iranian threats against France

The Iranian regime reacted strongly and disapproved of these cartoons deemed “insulting”. It was on Twitter that the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs criticized the “insulting and indecent act of a French publication by publishing cartoons against religious and political authority”, indicating that “this will not go without an effective and firm,” he warned. The politician also added that Iran “would not allow the French government to overstep the mark”.

In reaction to these attacks against the French government, which has been separated from any scrutiny of the press since the law of July 29, 1881 on the freedom of the press, Nathalie Loiseau, deputy representative of France in the European Parliament, reacted on Twitter: “What it is perfectly clear: the repressive and theocratic regime in Tehran has nothing to teach France,” she warned.

Since the publication of these cartoons, the French ambassador to Iran, Nicolas Roche, has been summoned by the local authorities. The next day, this Thursday, January 5, the Iranian regime announced via a press release that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was ending “the activities of the French Institute for Research in Iran (Ifri) as a first step”. This establishment established in Iran, one of the 27 French research centers in the world, has the primary mission of promoting research “in the fields of archeology and the human and social sciences” according to the site institute website.