**The satirical weekly is publishing a special issue on Wednesday, January 4, mocking Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in support of the protests in Iran, reports Le Monde journalist Brice Laemle.**
As part of the special “January 7” issue, commemorating the anniversary of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack, the satirical weekly chose to support Iranian men and women and to, in the words of the front page, “beat the mullahs.”A wave of protests and repression has ravaged the country for nearly four months after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman arrested by the morality police for violating the dress code requiring women to wear head coverings in public, on September 16, 2022. Human rights organizations report that at least 503 civilians have been killed since then.
Charlie Hebdo responded by launching an international contest called “Mullahs Get Out” on December 8, 2022. For an entry to be selected, the magazine advised that a cartoon of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei should be the “funniest and meanest” possible. “Cartoonists and caricaturists have a duty to help support Iranians in their struggle as they fight for their freedom, by ridiculing this religious leader who represents the past and casting him into history’s garbage bin,” urged Charlie Hebdo.
Coco, who also contributes to the French newspaper Libération, set the tone with a drawing of Ayatollah Khamenei, with pierced nipples and wearing a sadomasochistic outfit under his suit, celebrating the abolition of the morality police by saying, “Finally free!”According to Riss, the publication’s director, this protest movement is of global significance and Charlie must cover it. “We wanted drawings from all over the world and to not lock ourselves into French-centric thinking,” he said, adding that it was crucial to show “the visual diversity of the opposition.”Le Monde was able to view 35 drawings selected from the 300 sent to the Charlie Hebdo editorial office, including from Iran, Turkey, the United States, Senegal and Australia. The 1,589th issue focuses exclusively on the protest movement in Iran and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, January 4.
One cartoon shows Khamenei being punched with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom,” while another depicts a mullah being crushed under a heel. Among the very political drawings, the supreme leader is also depicted as Marilyn Monroe, whose dress is lifted by the wind of the headscarves that women have freed themselves from. In another, armed with stones, they pommel him.
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**The satirical weekly is publishing a special issue on Wednesday, January 4, mocking Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in support of the protests in Iran, reports Le Monde journalist Brice Laemle.**
As part of the special “January 7” issue, commemorating the anniversary of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack, the satirical weekly chose to support Iranian men and women and to, in the words of the front page, “beat the mullahs.”A wave of protests and repression has ravaged the country for nearly four months after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman arrested by the morality police for violating the dress code requiring women to wear head coverings in public, on September 16, 2022. Human rights organizations report that at least 503 civilians have been killed since then.
Charlie Hebdo responded by launching an international contest called “Mullahs Get Out” on December 8, 2022. For an entry to be selected, the magazine advised that a cartoon of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei should be the “funniest and meanest” possible. “Cartoonists and caricaturists have a duty to help support Iranians in their struggle as they fight for their freedom, by ridiculing this religious leader who represents the past and casting him into history’s garbage bin,” urged Charlie Hebdo.
Coco, who also contributes to the French newspaper Libération, set the tone with a drawing of Ayatollah Khamenei, with pierced nipples and wearing a sadomasochistic outfit under his suit, celebrating the abolition of the morality police by saying, “Finally free!”According to Riss, the publication’s director, this protest movement is of global significance and Charlie must cover it. “We wanted drawings from all over the world and to not lock ourselves into French-centric thinking,” he said, adding that it was crucial to show “the visual diversity of the opposition.”Le Monde was able to view 35 drawings selected from the 300 sent to the Charlie Hebdo editorial office, including from Iran, Turkey, the United States, Senegal and Australia. The 1,589th issue focuses exclusively on the protest movement in Iran and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, January 4.
One cartoon shows Khamenei being punched with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom,” while another depicts a mullah being crushed under a heel. Among the very political drawings, the supreme leader is also depicted as Marilyn Monroe, whose dress is lifted by the wind of the headscarves that women have freed themselves from. In another, armed with stones, they pommel him.
**Read the full article here:** [**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/media/article/2023/01/03/eight-years-after-paris-terrorist-attacks-charlie-hebdo-caricatures-the-mullahs_6010131_22.html**](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/media/article/2023/01/03/eight-years-after-paris-terrorist-attacks-charlie-hebdo-caricatures-the-mullahs_6010131_22.html)