Foreign Ministry Condemns Sacrilegious Caricatures by French Magazine
Yemen’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the republishing of sacrilegious caricatures insulting the Prophet Mohammad by a notorious French magazine.
The provocative move by Charlie Hebdo, a left-wing French magazine infamous for publishing anti-Islamic content, has drawn widespread anger and outrage across the Muslim world.
“This disgraceful act is a blatant challenge to the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world,” the ministry affirmed in a statement, noting that contempt for religions symbols spread hatred and extremism, it undermines all noble human values and all efforts exerted to promote the values of tolerance and coexistence among the peoples of the world.
The statement pointed out that freedom of expression and freedom of the press are among the basic freedoms, but it is not absolute and does not in any way mean chaos or moral fall, rather, it is restricted to respecting others in their feelings and beliefs and not to offend or insult others.
The statement called on Islamic countries to stand firmly against the repeated offenses of Islam and Islamic sanctities. It called on the international community to redouble efforts to confront extremism and instigators of sedition and hatred.
The caricatures were first published in 2006 by a Danish newspaper Jylllands Posten, sparking a wave of protests across the world then.
French President Emmanuel Macron refused to take action against the magazine owners, defending the move under the garb of “freedom of expression”.