Iran's biggest-selling newspaper has plunged into the Mohammed controversy by holding a competition to find the 12 "best" cartoons about the Holocaust in response to the cartoons of the prophet published in a Danish newspaper. Farid Mortazavi, graphics editor for Tehran's Hamshahri newspaper, said the deliberately inflammatory contest would test how committed Europeans were to the concept freedom of expression.
But Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the State Duma's international affairs committee, condemned the move, saying "The Holocaust is one of the most heinous pages in mankind's history, and its use as a 'weapon of retaliation,' especially a satirical weapon, is utterly unacceptable in any circumstances."
He said the Iranian authorities, by allowing the competition to go ahead, had pitted themselves against the civilized world and were provoking a new wave of reciprocal recriminations and attacks.
"Today, mankind can only exist and develop abiding by the principles of mutual consideration, tolerance, and respect for diverse cultural values," he said, warning both sides against insulting each other.
The "cartoon scandal" over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper sparked a wave of protests, some of which turned violent, and anger in the Muslim community. Protests across the Islamic world saw Danish products boycotted and Danish diplomatic representations torched.
