Reactions to the Sydney Hostage Crisis in Tehran Newspapers

The Iran newspaper dedicated its front page to the hostage crisis in Sydney, reporting under the headline "The End of the Storm of Terror at the Sydney Cafe": "An armed individual attacked a cafe in Sydney, Australia, on Monday morning, taking at least 10 employees and about 30 customers hostage, forcing some of the hostages to display flags resembling those of ISIS on the windows. This hostage situation ended after a gripping 15 hours at midnight Sydney time." The Javan newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, emphasized that "unconfirmed reports from foreign media suggest that the individual was an Iranian-born Sunni Sheikh named Sheikh Haroun, Mohammad Hassan Manteqi," and stressed that "the hostage-taker was not a professional and even mistakenly brought the flags of terrorist groups, indicating that there was no clear plan or organization behind this act." The Sharq and Kayhan newspapers reported on the presence of Hossein Shariatmadari at Tehran University and student protests against his speech. Sharq reported on the "controversies surrounding the presence of the Kayhan editor at Tehran University," noting student protests against the speech and describing it as a "debate between Hossein Shariatmadari and students." Kayhan stated that a number of students protested Shariatmadari's presence by chanting slogans such as "Kayhan - Israel, congratulations on your union," "Death to the liar," "O Hussein, Mir Hossein," "You have no conscience, you have no Sharia," and "A true Basij was Hemmat and Bakri," while "a crowd of Basij students" supported him with chants like "Blessings upon Muhammad, the helper of the leader has come" and "The standard-bearer of insight, Haj Hossein Shariat," "O judicial authority, revolutionary execution," and "Death to the seditionist." The Javan newspaper's front page on Tuesday quoted Mohammad Mousavi Bejnourdi, a prominent member of the Combatant Clergy Association, stating: "Baha'is have no citizenship rights." The Shahrvand newspaper reported on the "strange punishment of students at a school" in Pakdasht Varamin, stating that a teacher at a school attended by Afghan students forced four of them to "put their hands inside the toilet bowl" as punishment. The Iran newspaper also reported on the Sydney hostage crisis, reiterating that an armed individual attacked a cafe in Sydney, Australia, on Monday morning, taking at least 10 employees and about 30 customers hostage, forcing some hostages to display flags resembling those of ISIS on the windows. The hostage situation ended after a gripping 15 hours at midnight Sydney time. The newspaper also noted: "An hour after the hostage situation began, Australian police announced that the hostage-taker was likely an Iranian refugee named Mohammad Hassan Manteqi, who had changed his name to Haroun Mouns. He stated on a website attributed to him that he was previously a Rafidi but is no longer." The Javan newspaper described the hostage situation on Monday as a "16-hour shock from Takfiris to Sydney" and wrote: "The flow of Takfiri terrorism has spread from the Middle East to the countries supporting it, demonstrating that the hesitation of the Western coalition in confronting ISIS also affects America's allies. On Monday, Australia witnessed the adventures of extremists who managed to disrupt the city of Sydney with the hostage situation." The newspaper also wrote: "Unconfirmed reports from foreign media suggest that the individual was an Iranian-born Sunni Sheikh named Sheikh Haroun, Mohammad Hassan Manteqi." The Javan newspaper, noting that "the motives behind this incident are still unclear," emphasized that "according to reports, the hostage-taker was not a professional and even mistakenly brought the flags of terrorist groups, indicating that there was no clear plan or organization behind this act." The Jam-e Jam newspaper reported with the headline "Hostage Crisis in Australia with an Anti-Iranian Flavor," stating: "In the initial moments of announcing the identity of the hostage-taker, some foreign media attempted to use his Iranian origin to attack Iran, but it later became clear that the haste of some countries in granting asylum to opponents and defectors from the Islamic Republic of Iran was the main cause of this incident." The Khorasan newspaper also dedicated its front page to the hostage crisis in Sydney, reporting with the headline "ISIS has reached Australia," stating: "Two people, including the hostage-taker, were killed during the commando raid to free the hostages, and five were injured." This newspaper wrote: "Western media have identified the hostage-taker as an Iranian refugee who had converted his religion. He stated on a website attributed to him that he was previously a Rafidi, and thankfully, now I am a Muslim. He also cited his exit from Iran 18 years ago due to his ideological problems with the ruling regime." The narratives of Kayhan and Sharq regarding student protests against Shariatmadari were also reported. The newspapers Sharq and Kayhan reported on the presence of Hossein Shariatmadari at Tehran University and the protests of students against his speech. Kayhan wrote that a number of students protested Shariatmadari's presence by chanting slogans such as "Kayhan - Israel, congratulations on your union," "Death to the liar," "O Hussein, Mir Hossein," "You have no conscience, you have no Sharia," and "A true Basij was Hemmat and Bakri," while "a crowd of Basij students" supported him with chants like "Blessings upon Muhammad, the helper of the leader has come" and "The standard-bearer of insight, Haj Hossein Shariat," "O judicial authority, revolutionary execution," and "Death to the seditionist." The Sharq newspaper reported on "the controversies surrounding the presence of the Kayhan editor at Tehran University," noting student protests against the speech and describing it as a "debate between Hossein Shariatmadari and students." According to this newspaper, "On Tuesday, Hossein Shariatmadari, invited by the student Basij, went to the Faculty of Law at Tehran University to repeat his previous statements about reformists during a program titled '1811 Days of Demands,'" and "while more than five years have passed since the 2009 elections and the events that followed, he promised to publish new documents regarding what he called 'the treachery of the seditionists to the country' and stated: 'Soon, documents about the leaders of the sedition will be published in the form of a book.'" Sharq noted that "before Shariatmadari began his speech, while he intended to ascend the podium, some students criticized him with slogans, while others welcomed him with slogans." It wrote: "In another part of his speech, in response to the students' slogan calling Mir Hossein Mousavi the Prime Minister of Imam, he said: 'Shari'ah the judge was also a judge of Imam Ali and issued the death sentence for Imam Hussein.'" According to this newspaper, Hossein Shariatmadari, in response to students who were chanting 'Death to the liar,' also said: 'My request from my opposing friends is that if they love Mousavi, they should not say death to the liar; it is a shame. They should be tried; do they want to take documents to the grave? With the publication of documents, will anyone dare to say that the leaders of the sedition are not traitors to the homeland?'" Sharq wrote that the editor-in-chief of Kayhan "even in an interesting claim, attributed the three-thousand-billion-toman financial corruption that occurred in the previous government [the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] and Babak Zanjani to the reformists," and in response to the slogan "Kayhan, Israel, congratulations on your union" from the students, he claimed that this slogan was first said by the Guardian newspaper, which is related to the relatives of the leaders of the sedition. According to this newspaper, Hossein Shariatmadari, in response to slogans such as 'We are not from Kufa, let Hussein be alone' from the protesting students, told the protesting students: 'Your leaders confess everything when their chocolate milk is cut off.' The Sharq newspaper wrote that the editor-in-chief of Kayhan about the students' request for lifting the house arrest also said: 'The house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi was a big slap in the face of the Takfiris and America, which wanted to implement the Syrian project in Iran.' The Kayhan newspaper also published Shariatmadari's speech on its front page on Tuesday, quoting its editor-in-chief: 'The house arrest of the leaders of the sedition was a slap in the face of America and the Takfiri project.' Kayhan also published some of the slogans of the protesting students against Hossein Shariatmadari's speech, stating that 'the editor-in-chief of Kayhan, in response to the slogan 'You have no conscience, you have no Sharia,' said: 'Since this slogan is against me, I will not respond to it because I have come to defend Islam and the system, not to defend myself.'" This newspaper also reported that during Hossein Shariatmadari's presence at Tehran University, "a crowd of Basij students" chanted slogans in support of the Kayhan editor, such as "Blessings upon Muhammad, the helper of the leader has come" and "The standard-bearer of insight, Haj Hossein Shariat," "O judicial authority, revolutionary execution," and "Death to the seditionist." This newspaper also reported that some students protested Shariatmadari's presence and speech by chanting "Kayhan - Israel, congratulations on your union" and raised their placards while chanting slogans such as "Death to the liar," "O Hussein, Mir Hossein," "You have no conscience, you have no Sharia," and "A true Basij was Hemmat and Bakri." Kayhan also wrote that when a number of students chanted 'Death to the liar' at the Kayhan editor, Hossein Shariatmadari said: 'You should not wish death for the leaders of the sedition! They should remain and be tried. Why do you want them to take the documents of treason to the grave? My words are directed at those who have provoked you; otherwise, I consider you my brothers and sisters who have unfortunately been deceived.'" This newspaper also reported that after students protested Shariatmadari's remarks against Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, Hossein Shariatmadari said: 'If it were not for Hezbollah and the steadfastness of the people, the leaders of the sedition would be polishing Netanyahu's shoes, although they have already wiped it in the sedition of 2009.'" Mousavi Bejnourdi: 'Baha'is have no citizenship rights and right to education.' The Javan newspaper's front page on Tuesday quoted Mohammad Mousavi Bejnourdi, a prominent member of the Combatant Clergy Association, stating: 'Baha'is have no citizenship rights.' According to this newspaper, Mohammad Mousavi Bejnourdi, a prominent member of the Combatant Clergy Association, stated during an interview with the Fars News Agency on Tuesday regarding the question, 'When it is said that all citizens have the right to education, does this right, for example, include Baha'is as well?': 'Absolutely not. Some issues do not need specification; someone who is with the outside is anti-Islam, and Islam is opposed to it, and thus it is outside the discussion.'" The Javan newspaper also quoted Mohammad Mousavi Bejnourdi as saying: 'We never say that Baha'is have the right to free education; they have no citizenship rights at all. Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians have citizenship rights. They have representatives in the parliament because they are Abrahamic religions, and we interact with them, and their representatives are friends with us.'" According to this newspaper, Mohammad Mousavi Bejnourdi also mentioned the "drafting of a citizens' rights charter" by Hassan Rouhani's government, stating: 'When Mr. Rouhani was elected as president and decided to draft a citizens' rights charter, the legal deputy, Ms. Aminzadeh, asked me to cooperate in drafting it. Of course, several other legal experts, such as the late [Nasser] Katouzian, also participated.'" He stated that 'we took the spirit of the citizens' rights charter of the eleventh government from the 'eight-point order' of Ayatollah Khomeini and placed this order as a guideline before us and elaborated on it a bit.'" Mohammad Mousavi Bejnourdi is a cleric close to Ayatollah Khomeini and served two terms as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council of the Islamic Republic by his decree. He is a cleric and a member of the Combatant Clergy Association, a clerical organization close to reformists and the father-in-law of Hassan Khomeini. "Strange punishment of students at a school." The Shahrvand newspaper reported on the "strange punishment of students at a school" in Pakdasht Varamin. Reporter Elnaz Mohammadi wrote: "The incident occurred last week when Mr. 'R,' a third-grade teacher, noticed that Hamid, Morteza, Yasin, and Mohammad Reza had not done their homework and had not brought their books to class. This was enough for the teacher to assign the class monitor, Amir Hossein, to take those four to the school's restroom, stand over them, and force them to put their hands inside the toilet bowl." According to this newspaper, "That day, only Hamid put his hand completely inside the toilet bowl, and when he felt sick and was vomiting, the class monitor, fearing that the teacher would beat him, forced the others to put their hands inside the toilet bowl as well; when Hamid, Morteza, Yasin, and Mohammad Reza finished in the school's restroom, they were seen by the supervisor, who took them to the school office after hearing the story." The news of this strange punishment was reported to the Shahrvand newspaper by Sekineh Bahremandi, the mother of one of the third-grade students, and a former member of the parents' association of this school in Chahardangeh Varamin, who said: "My son accidentally told me what happened to his classmates, and he also followed up on the matter through students and their parents." She told this newspaper: "Last week, my son told me about this incident. After that, I heard that the school had called the parents for a meeting, and the principal told them that the offending teacher had been dismissed and that it would be better not to file a complaint, as he said that if he did so, he would be punished."