Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned Florent Aydalot the Charge d'Affaires of the French Embassy in Tehran to lodge protest against French President Emmanuel Macron's statement defending use of caricatures depicting Islamic prophet Muhammad as a manifestation of freedom of expression
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned Florent Aydalot the Charge d'Affaires of the French Embassy in Tehran to lodge protest against French President Emmanuel Macron's statement defending use of caricatures depicting Islamic prophet Muhammad as a manifestation of freedom of expression.
On Wednesday, during a commemoration ceremony for brutally killed French history teacher Samuel Paty, Macron said that the government would continue to defend freedom of expression and intensify fight against Islamic threat by curbing foreign influence on the Muslim religion within France and control over funding of mosques. His words of support for use of cartoons of Mohammad drew condemnation of many Muslim countries, claiming Macron's speech was insulting.
""Any insult to, and disrespect for Prophet Muhammad and the pure values of islam, by any individual and with any position, is strongly condemned and rejected," the deputy director general for European affairs at the foreign ministry said, cited by the statement.
The statement added that the Iranian official also stressed that Paris' Islamophobic actions have ignited sentiments of Muslims from across the world and that the French official has pledged to inform the French government of Iran's concerns on the matter.
Macron has faced condemnation of the international Muslim community over his speech on radical Islam, including Turkey's calls to boycott French imports, as well as anti-France demonstration in several countries, particularly, Libya and Bangladesh.
The French leader has affirmed that France would continue to stand by universal values of liberty, equality and fraternity and defend freedom of speech, and "respect all differences in a spirit of peace".
