Bodyguards of Khomeini's Grandson Assaulted a Journalist; Ministry of Culture Official: Hassan Khomeini Should Apologize

Bodyguards of Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, assaulted a journalist who wanted to take photos at the memorial ceremony for Mahmoud Dowayi and confiscated his mobile phone. In response, an official from the Ministry of Culture requested Hassan Khomeini to 'apologize' to the journalist in question. Two of Hassan Khomeini's bodyguards on Tuesday, June 9, during the memorial ceremony for Mahmoud Dowayi, prevented the journalist from the Iranian Labor News Agency from taking photos of him and former President Mohammad Khatami, and when the journalist tried to gain their consent, they beat him. According to ILNA news agency, 'another individual who appeared to be the leader of the security team, along with the previous two,' took the journalist to the 'VIP elevator of the Information Institute' and after seizing his 'mobile phone,' 'proceeded to beat and repeatedly insult him.' The report states that 'the third person in the hall was constantly beating the journalist with insults and punches and kicks' and 'the leader of the security team was busy checking the journalist's mobile phone and private messages.' According to this report, despite the dispatched journalist's attempts to prove he was a journalist, Hassan Khomeini's bodyguards also 'confiscated' his 'identification card' and 'in coordination with the security officials of the Information Institute,' held him 'for an hour at the entrance kiosk' of the building. ILNA condemned the actions of Hassan Khomeini's security team, deeming it 'a form of hostility towards information dissemination and disrespect for the sacred mission of journalism,' and announced that following this incident, the director of the Information Institute and Mahmoud Dowayi's son apologized to the journalist. Iman Shamsai, the director general of domestic press and news agencies at the Ministry of Culture, reacted in an open letter to the 'assault' on a journalist by Hassan Khomeini's bodyguards and asked him to 'personally follow up on the matter.' Shamsai stated that 'as a responsible person,' he has 'apologized' to the journalist, writing in the letter that 'the intensity of the conflict seemed high and your deputy at the Institute for the Preservation and Publication of the Works of' Ruhollah Khomeini, 'promised to follow up and apologize.' He mentioned that 'I spoke with the journalist' and suggested that Hassan Khomeini should also hear his words, emphasizing: 'It is very painful. He showed your bodyguards his press card, but they ignored it.' Iman Shamsai's remarks criticizing Hassan Khomeini's bodyguards' disregard for the ILNA journalist's press card come at a time when this Ministry of Culture official previously claimed that 'no one in Tehran has been arrested for media activities' regarding the detention of dozens of journalists.