It was an unusual line of attack by Sadeq Larijani, a cleric who is chairman of the judicial branch of the Iranian government, and is also the brother of Ali Larijani, speaker of the Majlis and thus head of the legislative branch of the government.
Sadeq Larijani launched his attack in a speech last Wednesday.
“What kind of a constitution allows the US president to dispatch forces to Muslim countries and shed the blood of the people only on the basis of unfounded claims of the existence of weapons of mass destruction, but bars that president from condemning insults to the holiest and the most spiritual person of the universe,” a reference to the recent film made in the United States that disparages the Prophet Mohammad.
Larijani said, ”With such contradictions, that constitution is the law of barbarism.”
Actually the US Constitution does not bar a president from condemning the film, and President Obama has condemned the film, a fact that has gone unreported in the Islamic Republic. But the Constitution does not allow any president to censor or bar the screening of a film.
Addressing senior judicial officials in Tehran, Larijani described the recent insult to the Prophet as a “great test for all Muslims, especially for Islamic governments…. Through their collective protest, Muslims of the world should show to ill-wishers and enemies how heavy the costs of such insults will be for them so that no one would dare ever again to commit such shameless acts against Muslims.”