Iran Urges Formation of Int’l Mechanism to Prevent Acts of Sacrilege

In a telephone conversation with his Algerian counterpart Ramtane Lamamra on Saturday, Hossein Amirabdollahian condemned the recent desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque by the Zionists and the sacrilegious move by French magazine Charlie Hebdo which has insulted the Islamic values and religious authority.

The Iranian foreign minister called for the establishment of an effective legal and international mechanism to halt the offensive acts against religious values and holy sites.  

For his part, Lamamra condemned the Zionist regime’s desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque and the notorious French magazine’s act of sacrilege, stressing the need for closer interaction among the Islamic countries in the international organizations, such as the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to counter those hostile actions.

In a post on his Twitter account on January 4, Amirabdollahian had warned that "the insulting and disgraceful act of a French magazine in publishing cartoons against religious and political authorities will receive a decisive and effective response."

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had in the past caused outrage in the Muslim world by publishing cartoons of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), has launched a competition to produce caricatures of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

The Foreign Ministry of Iran has reminded the Paris government that it has direct responsibility to hold those behind such a hate campaign accountable.

The ministry also noted that Iran will not tolerate a muted response to such an anti-cultural and anti-human move by the French magazine, will reconsider its cultural interaction with France, and will shut down the “French Institute for Research in Iran”.