Charlie Hebdo To Publish Special Issue To Mock Iran's Khamenei
Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei used to be revered by some and feared by some other Iranians but now he is constantly ridiculed and reviled by many people.
Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei used to be revered by some and feared by some other Iranians but now he is constantly ridiculed and reviled by many people.
Recently, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has launched an international competition -- called "Mullahs Get Out" -- to produce caricatures of Khamenei, as a “symbol of backward-looking, narrow-minded, intolerant religious power.”
On Tuesday, French daily Le Monde published one of the cartoons, saying that Charlie Hebdo is publishing a special issue on the occasion of the eighth-year anniversary of the Paris terrorist attacks, mocking Khamenei in support of the protests in Iran. Charlie Hebdo has been the target of three terrorist attacks: in 2011, 2015, and 2020. All of them were presumed to be in response to a number of cartoons that it published controversially depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. In the 2015 attack, 12 people were killed.
“The freedom to which every human being aspires is incompatible with the archaism of religious thought and with submission to every supposedly spiritual authority, of which Ali Khamenei is the most deplorable example,” Charlie Hebdo wrote.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian censured the controversial French magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing caricatures of Khamenei, warning of an “effective and decisive response.” The satirical magazine recently launched an international competition -- called "Mullahs Get Out" -- to produce caricatures of Khamenei, as a “symbol of backward-looking, narrow-minded, intolerant religious power.”
As part of the special "January 7" issue, commemorating the anniversary of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack, the satirical weekly chose to support Iranian men and women and to "beat the mullahs," Le Monde said, adding that the paper was able to view 35 drawings selected from the 300 sent to the Charlie Hebdo editorial office, including from Iran, Turkey, the United States, Senegal and Australia.
The magazine advised that a cartoon of Khamenei should be the "funniest and meanest" possible, noting that "Cartoonists and caricaturists have a duty to help support Iranians in their struggle as they fight for their freedom, by ridiculing this religious leader who represents the past and casting him into history’s garbage bin.”
“One cartoon shows Khamenei being punched with the slogan 'Women, Life, Freedom,' while another depicts a mullah being crushed under a heel. Among the very political drawings, the supreme leader is also depicted as Marilyn Monroe, whose dress is lifted by the wind of the headscarves that women have freed themselves from. In another, armed with stones, they pommel him,” Le Monde described some of the works.
Since the beginning of the current wave of protests in mid-September, Charlie Hebdo also published other cartoons of Khamenei, one of which prompted the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry to summon the French chargé d'affaires in Tehran. In the cartoon, Khamenei is depicted with bloody hands and a turban and an attire with the logo of clothing manufacturing company Nike and its motto: Just Do It.
The landscape of Iranians’ protests against the regime has never been this openly full of insults and slogans against the country’s ruler. Chanting “Death to the Dictator” and “Death to Khamenei” was still a taboo until very recently even during the protests. But now, making fun of the authorities and even the dead ones – which is extremely frowned upon in Iranian society – has become a common way of protests.
In December, a famous Iranian actor lashed out at Khamenei saying at least try to be a “personable dictator”. He compared Khamenei with other dictators such as Francisco Franco, Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini, saying he is “mentally ill” just like his “colleagues”.
January 3 marks the death anniversary of the commander of IRGC’s Quds (Qods) Force -- a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. He was one the most revered figures of the Islamic regime and was killed in a drone strike ordered by former President Donald Trump. His body was so mutilated in the explosion that many social media users described him as a “Cutlet” after his death, an Iranian dish resembling hamburgers mixed with potatoes. Despite extravagant ceremonies to honor his memory, Iranians are burning his banners and statues all over the country and even named January 3 as World Cutlet Day.
Dozens of groups urged people in Iran and abroad to hold mourning ceremonies as well as street rallies and strikes on January 8 to also honor civilians killed by the Revolutionary Guards, and condemn the human rights violations by the regime. Following the downing of Flight PS 752, the Islamic Republic tried to deny the incident for a few days before it was forced to admit that an air defense unit had fired two missiles at the airliner over Tehran.
In a statement, titled “This is no time for grief but for wrath,” at least a dozen rights groups said that three years ago following the incident, protests took place against the regime but now condemnations should be louder and heard everywhere.
"It's been more than three months that a huge revolution has begun to liberate women and all people suffering under oppression and exploitation in the shackles of the criminal rule - a revolution whose motto is "women, life, freedom" and one of its main goals is the downfall of the Islamic Republic. In the three months since the beginning of our revolution, the Islamic Republic has committed more crimes against the revolutionaries, teenagers, young people and protesters,” read the statement.
The Association of Progressive Students, Alliance of Doctors, the Union of Doctors and Medical Staff, the Freedom-loving students of Noshirvani University of Babol, the National Committee of Kordestan Province Students, the Association of Revolutionary Students of Tehran, the Alliance of Esfahan University of Technology, and many other are among the signatories of the call for action.
"Now we all have come to believe that we can overthrow the Islamic Republic and bring its big and small officials to justice,” they added.
On Sunday, Hamed Esmaeilion, the Canada-based activist whose daughter and wife were killed in the incident and serves as the spokesman for the families of Iranian victims of Ukrainian flight PS752, also called for a symbolic action on January 7. Noting that there is a graveyard that bears the bodies of the Islamic regime’s victims, he said, “we will lay flowers on the graves of all the victims of the Islamic Republic in the world.”
Last week, Britain, Canada, Sweden, and Ukraine formally launched a process to hold the Islamic Republic accountable for shooting down the Ukrainian airliner over Tehran, urging the Islamic Republic to agree to arbitration as Tehran has stonewalled over an independent investigation and proper compensation.
The airliner was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the IRGC as it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. Hours earlier, the IRGC had fired more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US troops in retaliation for the killing of the IRGC Quds Force Commander Ghasem Soleimani who was targeted by a US drone strike just five days earlier. All 176 passengers and crew, including 63 Canadians and 10 from Sweden, as well as 82 Iranian citizens on the plane died in the disaster.
This year, the anniversary for the victims is taking place as the current wave of antigovernment protests ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini is raging on for over 100 days across the country. The protest rallies show no sign of abating as the regime has killed over 500 people and Iranians.