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Iran infuriated as Charlie Hebdo reprints 'sacrilegious' cartoons

Iranian officials are expressing rage at a provocative rerunning of cartoon portrayals of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, but have refrained from calling for retaliation or issuing death fatwas.
Iranian worshippers demonstrate after the weekly Friday prayers on January 23, 2015 in Tehran to protest against a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed that was published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in an edition issued a week after 12 people were killed by Islamist gunmen at its Paris offices. Iran denounced the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo but has also condemned as "insulting" and "provocative" its publication last week of a new cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.  AFP PHOTO/BEHROUZ M

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif strongly criticized a reprinting earlier this month of some controversial cartoons by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Many Muslims across the world find the sketches depicting the Islamic community’s most revered figure, the Prophet Muhammad, sacrilegious.

Zarif’s tweet also criticized French President Emmanuel Macron, who has refused to condemn the publication, saying he is not in a position to pass judgement on the magazine’s editorial decisions. “Freedom of expression or institutionalized hypocrisy?” the Iranian foreign minister asked the French leader, using his signature sarcasm.

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