The cleric said that the display of the film was an insult to the Shia people and their eighth Imam, Imam Reza (AS).

In his message, Ayatollah Dorri Najafabadi denounced the film for showing an anti-Islam image of the Iranian people and called it a plot hatched by the enemies of Islam.

He stressed that such plots cannot affect the Iranian nation’s respect for the Prophet Mohammad’s Ahl Ul-Bayt, especially Imam Reza.

“Holy Spider” has been directed by Ali Abbasi and narrates the story of a serial killer of women in the Iranian city of Mashhad which hosts the holy shrine of Imam Reza.

It has been co-produced by France, Germany, Sweden and Denmark, and has been filmed in Jordan.  

Earlier, the Cinema Organization of Iran (COI) has described the 75th Cannes Film Festival's act of honoring a certain film that depicts a dark image of the Iranian society as "biased" and "politically motivated".

4194**

Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish