French paper to print Iranian Holocaust cartoons

Charlie Hebdo said it would also print cartoons on the Holocaust from a competition being organised by an Iranian daily.

A French newspaper which on Wednesday reprinted the contentious caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed said it would also print cartoons on the Holocaust from a competition being organised by an Iranian daily.

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Asked if Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French weekly, intended to reproduce the Iranian cartoons, editorial director Philippe Val replied: "Yes."

But he said the decision stemmed not from a desire to defend the right to freedom of expression, as with the Mohammed cartoons, but rather to counter claims in Iran and elsewhere that the Nazi genocide against the Jews never occurred.

"We have decided to publish the cartoons on the Holocaust in the name of the fight against revisionism, which is fundamental today," he said at a Paris media conference.

Iran's top-selling newspaper Hamshahri on Monday announced an international competition of Holocaust cartoons in revenge for the publication in Western papers of satirical images of Mohammed, including one showing a turban in the shape of a bomb.

Muslims around the world have vented their rage over the Mohammed caricatures, which violate their traditional ban on depicting the Islamic prophet.

Arab newspapers have accused their Western counterparts of hypocrisy, saying they would not have reproduced images lampooning Jews or Judaism but felt free to offend Muslims.

Western newspapers for their part have noted that some Arab dailies have in the past shown caricatured Jewish cartoons.