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After PM Imran Khan and Erdogan, Iran's Ali Khameini slams France's Macron

After PM Imran Khan and Erdogan, Iran's Khomeini calls out French President Emmanuel Macron

By Web Desk
October 29, 2020
Ayatollah Ali Khameini speaks at an event. Photo: AFP

Iran's Ali Khameini is the third prominent Muslim global leader to have called out French President Emmanuel Macron for his Islamophobic comments.

"Does freedom of expression mean insulting, especially a sacred personage?"asked Khameini on Twitter Wednesday. "Ask your President why he supports insulting God’s Messenger in the name of freedom of expression. Isn’t this stupid act an insult to the reason of the ppl who elected him?"

His comments came in response to the beheading of Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher, who was attacked on his way home from the junior high school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 40 kilometres northwest of Paris.

Khameini then called out the blatant hypocrisy about freedom of speech when doubting the Holocaust was concerned.

"The next question to ask is: why is it a crime to raise doubts about the Holocaust? Why should anyone who writes about such doubts be imprisoned while insulting the Prophet (pbuh) is allowed?" he tweeted again.

Khameini is the third prominent Muslim world leader who has criticised the French president for his anti-Islam statements and support for blasphemous cartoons insulting Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Macron's comments came in response to the beheading of Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher, who was attacked on his way home from the junior high school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 40 kilometres northwest of Paris.

The teacher had shown cartoons disrespecting Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), according to media reports.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and Turkey's President Erdogan have both called out Emmanuel Macron for promoting Islamophobia.

PM Imran Khan had said on Tuesday that no one should be allowed to disrespect Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in the name of freedom of expression.

Last week, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had called for a boycott of French goods citing Macron’s anti-Islam agenda. “What is the problem of this person called Macron with Muslims and Islam? Macron needs treatment on a mental level,” Erdogan had said in a speech in the central Turkish city of Kayseri.

“What else can be said to a head of state who does not understand freedom of belief and who behaves in this way to millions of people living in his country who are members of a different faith?”

PM Imran Khan slams French President Macron, says he 'deliberately provoked' Muslims

In a series of tweets on Saturday, PM Imran Khan, while presenting examples of the iconic leader Nelson Mandela, said that this is a time when President Macron could have put the healing touch and denied space to extremists rather than "creating further polarisation and marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation".

"It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists. Sadly, President Macron has chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims, incl his own citizens, through encouraging the display of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam and our Prophet (PBUH), the premier wrote on Twitter.