In an orchestrated effort with the Iranian Welfare Organization, the official Iranian news agency named IRNA denied the news recently issued by HRANA, concerning the threat of acid attacks in a kindergarten in Ahwaz.  The following article briefly shows that this denial actually confirms the accuracy of the information published by the HRANA and clearly indicates that the state founded media is more concerned about the resource of news rather than addressing the real problem.

On Friday, November 6, 2014, HRANA, the news organization of Human Rights Activists in Iran, published a report entitled “Acid attacks and threats in a kindergarten”.  on its website (1). The title of the news that included a summary of the entire released report entailed “on October 25, 2014, a woman attacked a kindergarten named Blue Lotus (located in the city of Ahwaz) with a container claimed to contain acid solution.

Regardless of the title “acid attacks and threats in a kindergarten” that well illustrates the theme and the content of the news quoted from the kindergarten manager “Ms. Sarah Hrdany”, the most important sections of the news reported by HRANA are the following:

1. 1.    “A woman holding a glass container attacked the Blue Lotus kindergarten in Ahwaz and threatened the teachers and children to acid attack.
2. 2.     “After entering into the kindergarten, the woman threatened to throw acid at the teachers and children.”
3. 3.    “The woman tried to open the container lid but it did not work.”

These sections constituted the main content of the news. This news mainly highlighted the inability of the police force and judiciary system to ensure security of the children despite the sensitivity of the issue and common emphasize on the safety of the children. This was particularly true in view of the fact that according to the daycare manager most of the children have been suffering from the “Enuresis” and horrors after the incident.

In recent days according to Reporters Without Borders (2) Iranian journalists have been threatened to avoid reporting the news concerning acid attacks in Iran. Of course, such threats cannot affect the independent news agencies such as HRANA considering their human resources, legal situation and independence. Therefore, it is clear that the officials and Iranian intelligence service has been actively involved in neutralizing this report and issued a renunciation by official Iranian news Agency, IRNA. However, this renunciation has committed obvious errors as follows:

1. 1.    The renunciation mentioned in the headline: “The Welfare Office of Khuzestan denies acid attack in a kindergarten” (3). However, the HRANA basically never claimed “acid attacks” but reported the news of “threat to acid attack”.
2. 2.    The renunciation of IRNA quoted from Ms. Hardany that “the delinquent had a bottle of water and never expressed any intention of acid attack”. To verify this claim, please refer to Ms. Hrdany’s exclusive interview on 13 November with the internal news media, The Wave which is a licensed and local media supporting the government unlike HRANA that is considered an opposition news agency. In this interview, Ms. Hardany said “the coaches were attacked and the women claimed that she had a glass of acid in her hand but the container could have been full of water or juice. The coaches and I were worried about the children all the time.”
3. 3.    But the most important part of the renunciation is the section indicating “the manager of the kindergarten attended the provincial office of Welfare rejected any interview with this news agency (i.e. HRANA).” The main question about this type of renunciation is: why the manager must deny the interview with HRANA in writing? She has not denied the interview voluntarily in writing to the media, but she has done so at the welfare office? Of course, she should have responded in writing in response to the official questions in writing; doesn’t this resemble an interrogation with the ministry of intelligence, or security office of the ministry of health or Welfare organization. These are the same institutions that ban journalists to say any word about the acid attacks in the country?

To better understand the massive pressure on the experienced manager of the kindergarten, one must refer to the section of her interview with the news agency, quoting from Mrs. Hrdany “… she denied any interview with the rebellious news agency “HRANA” and indicated that she has tried to file a complaint against HRANA. However, since this news agency is physically located outside the country, the compliant was not effective. She indicated that she is a supportive of the Islamic Republic and the supreme leader.” as if being a supportive of the system or the supreme leader can change the facts or help clarify the situation.

1. 4.    Ignoring the inventive(!) renunciation made by the officials, the most interesting section of this incident is the last two lines describing Ms. Hardany’s interview with The Wave two days after publishing the renunciation that indicates “despite the official explanations of the Welfare office of Khuzestan province, I deny attending at the office to speak for or against anybody.” In a simple language, this means Ms. Hardany denies any interview with the Welfare organization of the Khuzestan province, the claims, and the so-called renunciation!

Despite the numerous gaffes present in the renunciation, those described in this article, alone, can clearly exhibit the baseless nature of the renunciation. It should be noted that the objective of this article is not to respond to the renunciation. Instead, this article aims at shedding light on the stereotype reports published by the authorities who are not concerned about addressing the roots of current problems in Iran but only focusing on the source of news. This means if an outsider media honestly report painful or unpleasant news, for instance the human rights organization of the UN, it will be highlighted as the “enemy” and only news reported by insiders (who have passed official filters) would be considered “real”! This labeling of the flow of information as “insiders” and “outsiders” means better control of the news and the ability to make the reality obscure. For example, the website of “Healthy Life” reported “the death of one of the victims of acid attacks in Isfahan” on October 19, 2014 (5), the news was completely ignored by the government officials and a few weeks later removed from the website (6). On the other hand, the report published by HARANA is labeled as “rebellious”, ignoring the facts that several children have been suffering from “Enuresis” after this incident, the security forces have been 40 minutes late to the place of incident, and the case has been completely abandoned in the local justice office in Ahwaz by a judge who is currently traveling.

Keyvan Rafiei

References:

1-    HRANA; Acid attacks and threats in a kindergarten

2-    The Reporters Without Borders;  Acid attacks against Iranian women another alibi to suppress the journalists

3-    IRNA; the Welfare office in Ahwaz denied the report of threat to acid attack in a kindergarten

4-    Wave news agency; the social problems in Iran must not be presented as political problems

5-    The reflection of the news published by “Healthy Life” agency about the death of one of the victims of Acid Attacks in Isfahan

6-    “Healthy Life” news agency; the death of one of the victims of Acid Attacks in Isfahan (the news is deleted)