Selfies of Killers

The newspaper 'Qanoon' has reported under the headline 'Selfies of Killers': 'Multiple knife stabbings, burning, incinerating a body, and finally taking selfies with the corpse in complete calmness, a 15-minute scene with several bitter and shocking shots of the murder of a friend by four of his other friends, is all that has been published so far about the horrific murder of 19-year-old Sadegh, a young man from Mahabad.' According to this newspaper, the murder of 'Sadegh' occurred on October 25 of this year, and 'these four young men accused of murder, all aged between 18 and 20, filmed various moments of the heartbreaking murder of their friend and even took selfies while burning his body.' Qanoon reported that based on information obtained from this case, 'these four young men, three of whom confessed to aiding in the murder and one as the perpetrator, poisoned the victim at an unconventional night party before committing this crime. After the victim fell into a state of sleep and unconsciousness, they proceeded to stab him multiple times and, in their confessions, stated that after their friend's death, they burned his body in a peripheral area to cover up this horrific crime.' Abbas Tadin, a lawyer and university professor, emphasized that the crime of murder has a specific punishment in current Iranian law, namely 'Qisas' (retribution), and told this newspaper: 'The fact that several people can kill their friend and find it so normal that they publish the video or take selfies next to his burned body and share it publicly can attribute another crime to them, which is foreseen in the computer crimes law; in other words, the publication of images or materials that offend public opinion or target public order and cause public unrest can be an independent crime that has punitive aspects.' The newspaper 'Hamdel' has pointed to the increase in 'baby selling ads' by publishing photos of 'baby sale advertisements' and wrote: 'They have posted their sale posters on the doors and walls of the city; those who needed your money had previously sold their kidneys and their household items. However, the problems continue; just as the end of these sales seems endless; in some cases, the price is negotiable; the delivery time is also specified, and of course, in the mentioned ads, the delivery location is not specified whether it is at home or elsewhere.' This newspaper introduced poverty and despair as the reason for baby sales and wrote: 'Now, your ears have become accustomed to the sound of wandering vans, and as soon as you hear their sound, you search all the nooks and crannies of your house to find a piece of scrap metal worth a few loaves of Lavash or Barbari bread - we are not saying for addiction because not all the destitute and jobless are addicts; you have seen the baby sale posters; you say to yourself: Thank God you don't have a child, otherwise you would have sold him among the scrap metal.' The newspaper 'Etemad' has published under its headline 'The Chief Justice's Reaction to Rumors About Himself and His Family' and wrote: 'Spying for MI6 of England' was an accusation that was leveled against one of the family members of Sadegh Larijani, the Chief Justice, by one of the news channels on Telegram in recent days, and 'of course, this news and rumors spread in such a way in society that the silence of the country's officials and, most importantly, the Chief Justice himself was broken, and he, despite his recent silence and that of senior judicial officials, decided to react and, of course, dismissed these accusations as worthless and stated that they are not worth responding to.' According to this newspaper, Sadegh Larijani said: 'The enemy, having received a heavy slap from the judiciary during the 2009 unrest and the infiltration project, it is natural that they spread rumors against the judiciary, the officials of the judiciary, and the Chief Justice himself,' just as 'we have recently witnessed the spread of some rumors that some told me to respond to these rumors. In my opinion, these rumors are not worth responding to.' Etemad also wrote that the Chief Justice emphasized that 'the rumor mongers have been completely identified and are among the scoundrels and thugs of the 2009 unrest and have been hired by foreigners; they are too insignificant to warrant a response from us, but we tell their masters that if you think that with such actions, officials will retreat from their path of serving the people and preserving the system, you are greatly mistaken.' This newspaper reminded that 'after discussions about the thousands of billion tomans accounts attributed to the Chief Justice, which caused many challenges and after weeks ultimately ended with the Minister of Economy being summoned to the Parliament and explanations from senior judicial officials, this time accusations have been leveled against one of his close relatives; accusations that are significantly heavier than financial allegations.' The newspaper 'Javan', close to the Revolutionary Guards, also quoted Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence, emphasizing that 'the family of the Chief Justice is not under suspicion of espionage.' According to this newspaper, the Minister of Intelligence announced in a statement that 'the only professional authority for determining espionage actions in the country is the Anti-Espionage Department of the Ministry of Intelligence, which has not observed any evidence of actions that even raise suspicion of espionage regarding any of the family members of the Chief Justice.' The newspaper Javan also wrote in a note that the Telegram channel Amadnews 'initially tried to feed the audience a percentage of reality by mixing one liter of real milk with nineteen liters of water, and in the second stage tried to make the lie absolute by referring the audience's perception and mind back to the previous stage, making it believable by bringing codes of places, meetings, and individuals.' Abdullah Ghanji, the editor-in-chief of the Javan newspaper, noted in this note that 'after constructing and repeating the news of espionage and the arrest of the Chief Justice's child, they waited for reactions from within the system and saw no response from opposition media either. Therefore, to escape from the deadlock and the scandal of the big lie, they sought a way to exit the subject non-obviously and designed two outputs. First: 'The Guards want to negotiate over this case' to lead the waiting audience to a dead end where their confused mind remains and they are dissuaded from following the news, and second that no one dares to address this case.' The editor-in-chief of this newspaper close to the Guards emphasized that 'from a news perspective, I am uninformed, but it is possible that Amadnews has fallen into the trap of sharp security forces and has invalidated itself.' However, 'the focus of this group on the powerful arms of the system (the Guards, the judiciary, etc.) indicates the security objectives behind it, and indeed the disgrace of this channel is for those who are within the system but are praised by it.' The Javan newspaper emphasized that Sadegh Larijani, the current Chief Justice, 'is not corrupt and is not one for deals,' and 'if such individuals were praised, he would certainly be suspected, and we would have gone as far as his dismissal.' The goal of his note is 'not to defend the judiciary, which certainly has corruption alongside its efforts, and this corruption is not exclusive to its head, and changing the head will not solve the existing corruption.' The newspaper 'Shargh' has reported on 'collecting signatures for constitutional change' to convert the presidential system into a parliamentary system and wrote that despite the opposition of some representatives close to the reformist faction to this change, several other representatives are busy collecting signatures for a letter on this matter addressed to the Leader of the Islamic Republic. Mohsen Kouhkan, a representative of the tenth parliament, told this newspaper: 'I am aware that a text has been prepared. It was a statement made by the Supreme Leader a few years ago. Almost politicians and non-politicians, officials and non-officials, no one in the country has addressed this to be at least raised in the media space and debated so that a decision can be made. We decided with our friends long ago to initiate this in a way that at least his statement is raised and the topic is discussed. Various opinions that exist are collected so that, God willing, we can move forward and see what mechanism we arrive at.' Mojtaba Zolnoor, a representative close to the Front of Steadfastness, also told the Shargh newspaper: 'A few representatives have thought of this themselves and believe that there are some problems in managing the country that might be more easily solved by changing from a presidential system to a parliamentary system; therefore, it is merely at this level that they have prepared their proposal to collect signatures from representatives.' This parliament member also stated that this letter 'has not yet been signed by many. The letter has not been circulated for signatures in the chamber. I believe that a representative is free and can do such a thing. Research centers and the parliament can also work on their own, but if at any time a system is to be implemented that requires a change in the constitution, naturally the Leader of the Islamic Republic must grant permission for a referendum, but these representatives have not come to do extensive work' and merely want to propose to the leadership whether 'this work will be permitted or not.' The Shargh newspaper simultaneously quoted Mohammad Reza Tabesh, a representative close to the reformist faction, stating: 'Changing the presidential system to a parliamentary one requires a strong and effective legal basis and adherence to democratic principles. For instance, if the system becomes parliamentary, the Guardian Council may impose a filter that results in a uniform parliament being formed, and from this parliament, a government must be formed, which is not in the community's interest at all.' This newspaper also wrote that Ezzatollah Yousofian Molla, a representative close to Ali Larijani and 'the main architect of this plan, continues to refuse to respond to Shargh and very few representatives are aware of its details, and on the other hand, the reformists have opposed this issue, and it can be concluded that this plan is being pursued by only a few representatives.' The newspaper 'Jahan San'at' also published a note titled 'The Dangers of Changing Iran's Presidential System to Parliamentary,' stating: 'Currently, changing the presidential system to a parliamentary system faces risks, the most important of which is that the first executive person in the country will no longer be elected directly by the people,' while 'for all these years, presidential elections have been the main intermediary for citizens' participation in determining their fate. The elimination of this institution deprives citizens of meaningful participation.' This newspaper also emphasized that 'such a change increases the risk of further manipulation of democratic mechanisms. The existence of supervisory mechanisms and the efforts of some groups to eliminate rivals highlight the danger of a uniformity of power, as controlling the parliament and those who can compete for presence in it is naturally easier.' Therefore, 'we are in a critical decision-making position that could have unpleasant consequences.' The newspaper 'Khorasan' has written on its front page that Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, on Wednesday during a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, referred to the holding of a referendum in the Kurdistan region of Iraq as a betrayal and called Iraqi Kurdistan the 'new Israel' and stated: 'Iran and Turkey must take every possible action to confront this incident, and the Iraqi government must also make serious decisions and actions in this matter.' The Shargh newspaper also dedicated its front page photo to the meeting between Hassan Rouhani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Tehran, quoting the Turkish President as saying: 'Stronger measures against Iraqi Kurdistan are on the way.' Ali Khorram, an international law expert, in a note titled 'Iran and Turkey Against the Separation of Kurdistan,' wrote in this newspaper: 'The referendum in the Kurdistan region of Iraq for independence has not only raised concerns among neighbors and the world but has also changed security priorities. Before this referendum, the priorities of prominent countries in the Middle East, such as Iran and Turkey, were fighting ISIS and how to maintain the territorial integrity of Syria and Iraq against the terrorist group's attacks.' The writer of the Shargh newspaper noted that now 'despite all the protests and for whatever reason and interest, this referendum has taken place, and security priorities in the Middle East, apart from fighting ISIS, also pertain to the effects and repercussions of the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan, and Iran and Turkey cannot ignore developments in Iraqi Kurdistan while fighting ISIS.' Ali Khorram also pointed out the different positions of Iran and Turkey and wrote: 'According to the 1926 Ankara Treaty, this country can annex the Mosul province to its territory if Turkey's security is threatened, and certainly, the Mosul province in this view covets the oil of Kirkuk. Such statements should serve as a lesson for the Kurds to think carefully about the repercussions of their independence aspirations, as insisting on leaving the circle of Baghdad's governance may lead them to fall under Turkish governance and become part of the PKK. On the other hand, it should create caution and vigilance for Iran to closely monitor Turkey's priorities while cooperating closely with it to avoid a crisis within a crisis in Iraq.' The writer of the Shargh newspaper implicitly warned government officials about conflicts with the Kurds and wrote: 'Iran considers the Kurds to be an authentic Iranian ethnicity and historically and humanely has no conflict with them; therefore, it should avoid any confrontation with this Iranian ethnic group as much as possible; however, if Iran's national security is threatened, it must act as a government.'