Rabat – Morocco’s House of Councillors, or upper house, condemned on Tuesday Islamophobia and insults against the Prophet Muhammad in France.
During a parliamentary session on Tuesday, the components of the House of Councillors welcomed the statement Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the High Council of Scholars released in response to the attacks on Islam.
The Justice and Development Party (PJD) group in the House of Councillors said it strongly denounces Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and the persistence in republishing them.
The group argued that the cartoons constitute an “unacceptable and inappropriate” offense to the feelings of two billion Muslims across the world.
The group of the Al Istiqlal (Independence) Party called the cartoon campaign “unreasonable behavior,” recalling Morocco’s official statement which stressed that freedom of expression ends where that of others begins.
Several other parties within the House of Councillors also condemned the offense to Islam, including the National Rally of Independents (RNI), who stressed that “freedom” has some degree of “rules and principles.”
The statement from the House of Councillors marked the eve of Eid Al Mawlid Annabawi, the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
Billions of Muslims are celebrating the anniversary today, October 29.
Muslims across the world expressed anger at the offensive Charlie Hebdo cartoons France is using to define its principles of freedom of expression.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that France will never give up its cartoons and claimed Islamists want France’s future.
The statement came in response to the murder of history teacher Samuel Paty. An 18-year-old student beheaded Paty for displaying Charlie Hebdo’s offensive cartoons of the prophet during a class on freedom of expression.
Tension continues to rise in France following today’s knife attack at a church in Nice.
The Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said the city is “once again touched in her heart by the Islamofascism that I keep denouncing.” In July 2016, Nice was the site of one of France’s worst terrorist attacks, when a 31-year-old man drove a truck into crowds of people, killing 86 and injuring 434.
Wednesday’s attack in Nice claimed the lives of three people, including a woman who was beheaded.
