Fact-checking | Incorrect report by Fars News Agency on a cleric filming a young woman in Qom

Iran International, one of the Persian-language networks outside Iran, published CCTV footage from a clinic in Qom on March 4, sparking heated discussions inside Iran and online. The video shows a brief verbal confrontation between a young woman without the mandatory hijab required by the Islamic Republic and a man dressed in traditional clerical attire. News reports and subtitles later published on social media platform 'X' and 'YouTube' indicated that the woman's hijab, while she was tending to her sick infant, had slipped and fallen off her shoulders. In this context, a young cleric began recording the scene with his mobile phone, but when the woman protested and demanded that he delete the video, the cleric refused to comply. Furthermore, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, published an article on March 8 titled 'Who is the main culprit in the Qom clinic incident?' identifying the cleric as 'a young activist apparently intending to promote virtue' and praising his behavior while accusing the woman of being without hijab and verbally assaulting a cleric, thus violating the law. The news agency stated that this video is another example of 'the increasing visibility of immorality' and concluded: 'It is clear that first and foremost, the woman who was harassed committed the sinful act of uncovering her hijab and, of course, by shouting and attacking the young cleric, she made another mistake.' The 'Poligraph' website, a fact-checking project of Voice of America, labeled the report from the IRGC-affiliated news agency as 'misleading.' Accordingly, while it is true that the woman's lack of hijab and her outburst towards the cleric in public are considered serious crimes under Iranian law, it appears that this young woman acted out of extreme distress and fear, which is not unreasonable given the potential use of this video as evidence of a crime. According to Poligraph, clerics in Iran are notorious for the brutal punishments imposed on women who do not comply with the mandatory hijab law, facing imprisonment and heavy fines. They are also at risk of physical attacks and acid attacks or may be killed like Mahsa Amini. Fars News Agency stated that the person who sent this video to 'this international terrorist network' (Iran International television) 'should not be overlooked,' and the only reason for the attention to this video is 'the enemy's game' to 'create division among the people' and ultimately 'disintegrate Iran.' After Fars published this article, several social media users claimed that Iranian authorities had identified and arrested the young woman. Others reported the arrest of the person who disseminated the video. Some also reported the clinic's closure. Poligraph stated that it could not independently verify these reports. Iran International announced on March 10 that Hassan Gharib, the prosecutor of Qom, had ordered the identification and prosecution of the person who disseminated the video, but stated that no arrests had been made in connection with this incident. Fars News Agency also announced that rumors regarding the closure of the clinic or the revocation of its license are untrue and that no restrictive measures have been implemented. In a report published on March 14, Poligraph stated that its Persian-language reporter reviewed the video released by CCTV of this incident. The video apparently was filmed in a crowded hallway of a clinic and begins with a young woman dressed in black but without a headscarf running after a cleric who is exiting the building, asking him to delete the video he took of her without her consent from his mobile phone. Other women join in support of the hijab-less woman, demanding that the cleric either delete the videos or hand over his phone. The argument escalates, and the cleric refuses to delete the video and attempts to leave the scene. The young woman becomes increasingly agitated and ultimately suffers a 'panic' attack. The crowd continues to pressure the cleric to delete the video, and he flees while the crowd held onto his cloak and turban. On March 11, a video was also published on platform X of a religious person arguing with a woman in the metro over hijab compliance. Amid protests against the cleric filming the 'Qom mother,' Ansieh Khazali in New York stated: 'Hijab is an accepted issue in Iran.' The deputy prosecutor of Qom announced the arrest of the 'disseminators' of the clinic video. There were widespread reactions to the hashtag 'We are Saliṭeh' (meaning 'we are ungovernable'); activists told Voice of America that a Saliṭeh woman means an ungovernable woman. Reactions to the secret filming by a cleric included Gohar Eshghi stating: 'Clerics should fix their corrupt minds.' The uproar over a cleric in a medical center led the prosecutor of Qom to announce that a legal case had been opened.