Hezbollah firmly condemned on Tuesday as a “hideous offense” Charlie Hebdo’s defamatory cartoons of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, calling on France not to be part of the aggression.
“Once again, the Charlie Hebdo ominous magazine attacks our sanctities and honored figures,” Hezbollah’s Media Relations Office said in a statement, pointing to previous offences by the French magazine against Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), Prophet Issa (Jesus) and other religious figures.
“The magazine targets today the supreme Islamic figure in the world, Imam Khamenei, who is not only a leader of a great country, but also an Imam and religious reference for tens of millions of Muslims and an icon of humanity, freedom, dignity, resistance and pride.”
“We, in Hezbollah, firmly denounce the hideous act committed by this magazine, as we call on free people around the globe to do so.”
The Lebanese resistance party, meanwhile, urged French authorities to take “decisive measures in a bid to hold the offenders accountable.”
“Justifying the offense by attributing it to the so-called ‘freedom of expression’ is now exposed and futile,” Hezbollah’s statement read.
It lashed out at the West for adopting double standards, saying: “We have all witnessed the West’s double standards when the cause opposes with its major political interests.”
“The French government has to avoid being part of this offense and to dissociate its political disagreement with Iran from allowing impudent magazines like Charlie Hebdo to attack sanctities and dignified figures of Muslims.”
Source: Al-Manar English Website
