This pattern goes beyond censorship. It exposes the double standards in France’s approach to free speech: weaponized to serve the Empire and suppressed when used by the marginalized.
Back in 2015, the publication of blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by the controversial magazine Charlie Hebdo sparked massive outrage across the Muslim world.
Rather than acknowledging it and taking remedial measures, French President Emmanuel Macron came out in defense of the magazine’s “freedom of expression,” presenting satire and free speech as sacred French values, even at the cost of hurting the religious sentiments of billions of Muslims, including those inside his own country.
Fast forward to 2022: Masih Alinejad, a US-based rabble-rouser sponsored by the anti-Iran American lobby to orchestrate smear campaigns and spread disinformation aimed at destabilizing Iran, was very warmly received at the Élysée Palace.
Macron praised her role in fomenting riots in Iran, which he called a “revolution,” and publicly supported the so-called “freedom” for Iranian women. This was a clear signal of France’s strategic alignment in a broader hybrid war that seeks to psychologically and culturally undermine the Islamic Republic from within.
Now, in 2025, Esfandiari’s case plays out in the shadows of the same geopolitical theater.