In what seemed like a coordinated event, Iran’s state television and news agency aired and published fake statements on Sunday evening on behalf of certain senior clerics claiming that they had objected to the publication of their photos that showed them meeting presidential candidate and former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Within just a few hours these reports were denied by the senior clerics incriminated in the reports.
First the office of ayatollah Safi Golpaygani issued an official rebuttal to the news report aired on television and IRNA. While “expressing its deep regret from such unethical actions by influential media in the country” the statement said, “this type of disarray and negative actions like those that were unfortunately undertaken by the state television and state news agency today, results in an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion among the public.” The statement expressly called the authorities of these government media to be “ignorant” and “liars”, and added, “the measures of a few ignorant individuals who are not constrained by resorting to creating news and lying in regards to sources of emulation result in social anxiety.”
The office of ayatollah Golpaygani accused the state run television and news IRNA news agency of fabricating the announcement and attributing it to this office, and further said, “This office has not issued any statement regarding elections over the past 2 days and has not had any interviews with any news agency either.”
In another similar reaction, the office of ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili issued a statement regarding the aired news report on state TV and denied it. “Unfortunately during Channel 2’s news report at 8:30pm on Sunday (May 31), IRIB attributed a story to this office which is not true,” the statement read.
The office of ayatollah Javadi Amoli too issued a statement regarding the news reports which spoke of protests by the cleric over the report about Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign event, adding, “What has been attributed recently to this office regarding the response of this office to the aired news in the news agencies is not correct.”
Qom Religious Students: TV Should Apologize to Clerics
Following on this event, a group of clerics and religious students from the Qom Theological Center (Hoze Elmie Qom) requested from Zarghami, the head of IRIB, through a letter that he apologize to the senior clerics and warned him that “IRIB has begun a dangerous game.” In the letter, they also wrote, “Fabricating news and attributing lies to senior clerics, which has met their deep displeasure and denials, leaves us to alternative other than to give an ultimatum to you. It is necessary that you publish the denials of these lies expressed by the senior clerics immediately and for you to express regret to the clerics and the Iranian nation.”
This statement ends with a warning that if IRIB does not make an apology to the clerics, “in addition to criminal and civil procedures that will be initiated against IRIB and you as a person, other complaints also will be filed in other forums and clerics and religious students will come to IRIB to announce their displeasure with your actions and positions to mass media.”
President Ahmadinejad’s relations with senior clerics began to deteriorate two years after he came to office. In recent weeks because of the publications of fake news reports attributed to senior clerics by Ahmadinejad, the relations have soured even further. In fact relations between his allies and senior ayatollah Yusef Sanei turned so bad last week that the cleric announced that any one who voted in the election for “a liar” will be committing a 'haram', an Islamic principle meaning a religiously banned act.
Another cleric who had protested actions by allies of the president was ayatollah Behjat, recognized as a source of emulation, who died recently, and whose office had protested one of the claims raised by supporters of Ahmadinejad.
While the government spokesperson had recently claimed that Ahmadinejad enjoyed the support of these very senior clerics, a person from the office of one of these senior clerics denied this claim that was published by Fars news agency and said, “ayatollah Behjat, peace be upon him, never supported anyone (political personalities) during his entire life, while he presented them with religious advice and teachings.”
