“Freedom of expression is just an excuse for the West. They are fearful of people’s interest in Islam … and that is why they resort to such insults,” said Vahid Ahmadi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s foreign relations committee.
The senior Iranian lawmaker said while referring to the recent publication of a blasphemous cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by Charlie Hebdo, a French weekly magazine that the West has been provoking Islamophobia to prevent Western people from getting attracted to Islam.
“They (Westerners) doing everything they can to stop the spread of Islam,” he stated, adding that insulting Islamic sanctities and giving rise to terrorist groups like ISIL to tarnish the image of Islam are among the measures taken by the West to that end.