MNA – Iran’s Minister of Culture Abbas Salehi condemned the French magazine Charlie Hebdo for republishing cartoons insulting the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH).

In a tweet on Wednesday, Salehi wrote, "Do not play with the gunpowder depot. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is not a person or a religious leader. He is the identity of one and a half billion people."

French magazine Charlie Hebdo republished cartoons insulting the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH) on the eve of a trial in Paris of alleged accomplices in a 2015 attack on the magazine’s offices by militant gunmen in which 12 people were killed.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei condemned the act of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo in republishing cartoons insulting the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH).

In reaction to the remarks of French President who called blasphemy a part of freedom of expression, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called these remarks disgusting.

French President Emmanuel Macron criticised on Friday what he called “Islamic separatism” in his country and those who seek French citizenship without accepting France’s “right to commit blasphemy.”