Iran's Culture Ministry Backs Artistic Works About Muslims Prophet

Tehran, Sept 22, IRNA - Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance declared here on Friday its spiritual and financial support for artistic works about Islam's holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Cultural Affairs Ali Ismaili asked all interested writers and poets to respond insults to the Muslim holy prophet by the western movie makers. Angry protesters in the Iranian capital staged a massive rally and burnt the US and Israeli flags on Friday and Thursday in a show of protest against the sacrilege of Islam's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in a US-Israeli movie and a French magazine. The Iranian demonstrators burnt the US and Israeli flags in front of the French Embassy in Tehran on Thursday to condemn the blasphemous movie and insulting cartoons published in the French magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' against Islam. Hundreds of angry Iranian students who had gathered in front of the French mission in Tehran since the early hours of Thursday morning trampled the US and Israeli flags and chanted slogans 'Down with US,' 'Down with Britain,' 'Down with France' and 'Down with Israel.' The blasphemous cartoons were published after an anti-Islam US-Israeli film drew condemnation from numerous countries including Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc. In Iran, millions of Iranians in Tehran and other cities across the country held nationwide rallies in protest to the recent desecration of Islam. The Iranian protesters chanted slogans such as 'Down with US' and 'Down with Israel' expressing their hatred at the US and the Zionist regime's anti-Islam policies. Earlier, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei blamed the US and the Zionists for the sacrilege of Islam's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in a movie made by an American-Israeli man, and called on Washington to punish those behind the blasphemous act. In a statement issued on Thursday, Iran's supreme leader said the US and Zionists' hands can be seen behind the move, and said if Washington statesmen's claim that they are not involved in this sacrilege act against Islam and Islamic values, they should bring to justice those who have designed and orchestrated the move. 'Once again, the dirty hand of the enemies of Islam revealed its deep-rooted malice by insulting the Great Prophet [Mohammad] (PBUH) and with an insane and deplorable measure showed the fury of the evil Zionists at the daily-increasing radiance of Islam and Holy Qur'an in the present world,' Ayatollah Khamenei added. He went on to say that 'behind this evil move is the antagonistic policies of the Zionists and the US and other heads of the global arrogance, who in their vain delusions want to knock down the Islamic sanctities from their lofty positions in the eyes of the younger generations in the Muslim World and to extinguish their religious sentiments. Had they not backed the previous links in this evil chain, namely the British blasphemous writer Salman Rushdie, a Danish cartoonist, and US pastors who burned the Holy Qur'an and had they not made orders for [production of] tens of anti-Islam movies to companies affiliated to the Zionist capitalists, things would not have lead to this massive and unforgivable sin today.' 'The prime suspects in this crime are Zionism and the US. If the American politicians are honest that they had no role, then they must punish those who committed this heinous crime and their financial backers, who have wrenched the hearts of Muslim nations, in proportion to this massive crime,' Ayatollah Khamenei said. 'Muslim brothers and sisters must know that this desperate move by the enemies in the wake of the Islamic Awakening is a sign of the grandeur and importance of this uprising and heralds its increasing growth,' the Leader added./end