TEHRAN- In a statement released on Monday, the Elite Scholars Center blamed the French government for the sacrilegious action of the Charlie Hebdo magazine, pointing out that under the guise of free speech, the Paris government permits a "worthless magazine" to continually violate the sanctities of others.

The comment comes just a few days after the French magazine published caricatures insulting Iranian and Muslim beliefs.

The full text of the statement posted on IRNA website follows:

And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers. (Surah Al-Imran Ayat 54)

The vulgar publication of Charlie Hebdo, which is known for dishonoring the values of different religions and even France’s own culture, and recently in a shameless act, targeted holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH), this time has targeted hideously the religious Marji’ of a significant part of the Muslims of the world, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and has raised the public anger of millions of Muslims and free people all over the world.

Grand Ayatollah Khamenei is the religious Marji’ of a significant part of the Muslims all around the world and the leader of the Islamic Revolution, who has fought against the greedy and arrogant governments such as the United States and the fake Israeli regime for more than 40 years, and on the other hand, has stood against the deviant and deceived groups among Muslims like ISIS and this honest persistence has made his popularity increased day by day among the freedom seekers and justice seekers of the world. Also, his precise and sublime thoughts as a great religious Marji’ in the field of freedom, women and family, peace and security, environment, religious sanctity (on banning(production and stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction and many other issues, have made him more than ever as a cultured thinker, noticed by the elites and intellectuals of the world and the Islamic world. (Those interested can refer to the multilingual website of khamenei.ir to learn more about his thoughts.)

Since the recognition of Grand Ayatollah Khamenei has always been in conflict with the interests of the hated and murderous Zionists who are ruling the world, they have censored him in the international media to the maximum extent over these 40 years. But since the politics of censorship has failed today, the assassination of his personality has started and the attack of the Charlie Hebdo magazine is in the same direction.

Indeed, the main accused and culprit of these insolences is the French government, which, under the pretext of freedom of expression, allows a worthless publication to repeatedly insult the sanctities of others and hurt the feelings of a significant part of the world’s population. Of course, this is not the first time that France hides its sinister intentions behind beautiful titles such as freedom of speech and human rights, but the historical experience of the Iranian nation shows that France has used this trick several times to commit crimes and advance its wrong policies. Sheltering the executioners whose hands were stained with the blood of 17,000 innocent Iranians, arming Saddam’s air force to bomb the oppressed people of Iran during the war imposed on this country, and the direct role of the French embassy in creating unrest in Iran in 1388 (2009) and 1401 (2022), are only a small part of the track record of France’s shameful actions against the people and the Islamic revolution of Iran.

There is no doubt that Elite Scholars Center strongly condemns the disgraceful act and silence of the French government, and it will use the capacity of the elites to play a role in public diplomacy to enlighten the public opinion of the world, especially the elites and the educated. Also, this NGO wants from the Muslim and independent governments of the world to use all their capacities to end this kind of disrespect and insult to the sanctities of the nations and force the French government to respect the rights of the nations.