Freedom of thought should lead to human growth: Iranian speaker

TEHRAN, Jan. 26 (MNA) – Iran’s Parliament speaker blasted defamation of divine religions as a pretext to freedom of speech, adding freedom of thought must be in line with transcending human beings. Ali Larijani has made the remarks on a Sunday meeting with Vice President of Germany's Bundestag Claudia Roth in Tehran. While stressing the importance of political, economic and parliamentary interactions between Iran and Germany, Larijani touched upon environmental problems in the region such as haze and called for joint cooperation among all countries and world environmental experts to combat these issues. He also lashed out at world powers' double standards in regard to Syria and said, “financial, military and intelligence support for terrorists would never lead to the establishment of democracy in any country.” Elsewhere in his speech, Larijani condemned the practice of insulting divine religions, asserting that defamation of divine religions and prophets on pretext of freedom of speech would only provoke emotions, hurt feelings and spread enmity throughout the world; “freedom of thought must be in line with transcending human beings.” Larijani has said this in regard to the French magazine Charlie Hebdo which has repeatedly provoked Muslim anger by publishing cartoons of the Prophet, defending its actions under the guise of free speech. The German parliamentarian, for her part, stressed on the immediate stop to war and bloodshed in Syria, adding “negotiations among powerful countries in the region, particularly Iran, can help end the Syrian crisis.” She also maintained Germany would welcome mutual cooperation with Iran in the field of environment.