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25 Oct 2020
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France: Calls for boycotting French products in Middle East ‘must stop immediately’

October 25, 2020

France urged countries in the Middle East to stop calls for boycotting French products, amid controversy over the use of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a French school class on freedom of expression whose teacher was then murdered by someone French President Emmanuel Macron labeled an “Islamist.”The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday that the calls for boycotting French products in several Middle Eastern countries and calls for demonstrations against France are “baseless and should stop immediately.”For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The statement added that all “attacks” against France must also stop and that they were “being pushed by a radical minority.”The ministry said that it mobilized its diplomatic network to explain France’s stances to its partners and called on governments to distance themselves from any boycott calls and “ensure the safety of French nationals.”Macron had criticized those he labelled as “Islamists” and defended the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.This came after a French teacher was beheaded last week near Paris after he had shown cartoons of the Prophet during a class about free speech. Macron had said the slain teacher was a “victim of an Islamist terrorist attack.”The French president also said: “We will not give up cartoons,” in a ceremony to honor the teacher last week. He added: “He was killed because Islamists want our future,” while vowing “they will never have it.”The incident has ignited debate about respecting religions and spurred many leaders in the Islamic world to condemn the crime but stress the importance of respecting prophets. There have been several social media campaigns in Muslim countries calling for boycotting French products.Kuwait’s retail co-ops have pulled French products in boycott. The non-governmental Union of Consumer Co-operative Societies, which groups more than 70 establishments, issued the boycott directive in an October 23 circular.Several co-ops visited by Reuters on Sunday had cleared the shelves of items such as hair and beauty products made by French companies.The Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Friday decried the brutal murder that has shaken France but also criticized the “justification for blasphemy-based harassment of any religion in the name of freedom of expression.”- With AFP, ReutersRead more:Macron tweets in Arabic that France ‘will never give in’ amid Prophet cartoon stormSaudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars: Insulting prophets only serves extremistsAfter teacher beheading in France, Azhar Imam says insulting religions incites hatred‘We will not give up cartoons,’ says France’s Macron in homage to murdered teacherFrance’s President Macron calls killing of teacher ‘Islamist terrorist attack’
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: France: Calls for boycotting French products in Middle East ‘must stop immediately’

25 Oct 2020
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Australia investigating reports that Iran moved detained academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert

October 25, 2020

Australia is seeking information from Iran on reports that a British Australian academic who was convicted of espionage has been moved to a mystery location, the foreign minister said on Monday.Kylie Moore-Gilbert was a Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies when she was arrested in Iran and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.She was moved in August to Qarchak Prison, east of Tehran, but the Iranian Association of Human Rights Activists reported she was moved to an unknown location on Saturday.Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australian Ambassador to Iran Lyndall Sachs had a consular visit with Moore-Gilbert at Qarchak “a short time ago” and Australian officials “are seeking further information” on the reports she had been moved.Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade describes securing Moore-Gilbert’s release as an “absolute priority.”Silence from IranIranian state media and officials have not acknowledged Moore-Gilbert was moved. She is among a number of Westerners and dual nationals held by Iran that activists and UN investigators believe is a systematic effort to leverage their imprisonments in negotiations with the West.Moore-Gilbert has gone on hunger strikes and pleaded for the Australian government to do more to free her. Those pleas include writing to the prime minister that she had been subjected to “grievous violations” of her rights, including psychological torture and solitary confinement.Jessie Moritz, a friend of Moore-Gilbert, said the certainty was stressful.“It is very concerning not to know where she is,” Moritz told Australian Broadcasting Corp.“We are probably not going to know for another couple of days which is going to be a stressful period of just waiting and hoping,” Moritz added.Read more:Iran transfers 66-year-old German Iranian woman to notorious Evin prison: ReportsJailed Iranian human rights lawyer moved to new prison despite health concernsIran court sentences 36 protesters to 109 years in prison: Report
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Australia investigating reports that Iran moved detained academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert