KABUL
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned Charlie Hebdo’s decision for republishing Prophet Muhammad’s caricature on its cover after a deadly attack in Paris that left 12 people dead.
President Ghani called the decision as “irresponsible” and termed it as “insult to holy religion of Islam and Muslims in the world.”
“President on behalf of the Afghanistan’s Muslim nation condemns this humiliating act,” said a statement released from presidential palace on Saturday.
Mr. Ghani vowed that the freedom of speech should be used in a constructive way to further boost understanding between the religions.
Earlier, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had strongly condemned the attack on Charlie Hebdo Weekly, which was also denounced by demonstrators in Afghanistan.
A group of angry protesters chanting anti-French slogans, on Friday honored the attackers of Charlie Hebdo as “martyrs” in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul.
The Charlie Hebdo attack was also lauded by Afghan Taliban insurgent group saying that the attack was carried out to bring the perpetrators of the obscene act to justice.
Similarly, on Jan. 9, hundreds of people demonstrated in Afghanistan’s central Uruzgan province praising the attack and called the brothers “heroes” of Islam.
The decision by Charlie Hebdo magazine to republish Prophet Muhammad’s cartoon on its cover drawn the ire of the Muslim world at large and received a wide range of condemnation by leaders including Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“If someone is printing a cartoon insulting the prophet, there is a provocation,” the Turkish prime minister said.
The latest issue of the weekly, which is on its way to break a record in France by selling millions of copies, was created by the surviving staff with supporters saying the cartoon on the cover of Charlie Hebdo is a defiant expression of free speech following a terrorist attack on the publication’s Paris offices that killed 12 people on January 7.
