Special HIV Prevention Services for Sexual Assault Victims in Iran

A few days after the arrest of Eisa Saharkhiz, Ehsan Mazandarani, Afrin Chitsaz, and Saman Safarzadeh, the newspaper Farhikhtegan published a note titled "It Might Happen to You Too" stating: "Following the arrest of several media activists in the country, government-critical media outlets, from state television to news websites and newspapers belonging to this spectrum, have created a foggy atmosphere by publishing numerous, voluminous, inaccurate, general, and in many cases false news, which has left many political analysts unable to understand the reasons behind such arrests." The newspapers Iran and Bahar also criticized the arrests of journalists on charges of "infiltration" in their Saturday issues. The government-aligned Iran newspaper dedicated its front page to a poster for the press exhibition, stating that the 21st Press Exhibition with the slogan "Fair Criticism, Responsible Response" will open on Saturday and will host "600 media outlets." The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz, owned by Mehrdad Bazrpash, a representative close to the Stability Front, published its Saturday front page "blank" with only "one sentence" stating: "Oh God, we seek refuge from the tyranny of opinion, haste in decision-making, prioritizing personal and group interests over public interests, and silencing rivals and critics." This newspaper announced in a letter to Hassan Rouhani that it "will not participate in the press exhibition." The newspaper Shahre Vandan referred to a directive from the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade regarding the prohibition of "importing two categories of goods from America," stating: "As inferred from the minister's directive, the import and supply of any consumer goods that symbolize American products are prohibited." However, this is not the whole story, as according to the statements of Yadollah Sadighi, head of the Center for Trade and Commerce in Iran, "the entry of goods with American lifestyle characteristics is also prohibited." The newspaper Etemad reported on the establishment of "special HIV prevention services for sexual assault victims" across all provinces in Iran, stating: "31 university hospitals in 31 provinces of Iran are required to implement care and treatment for the prevention of HIV transmission for sexual assault victims." The newspaper Iran also announced the start of the "Iranian Goods Purchase Plan," stating: "The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade have issued a joint announcement to begin the implementation of the Iranian Goods Purchase Plan." The newspaper Iran dedicated its front page to photographer Niyousha Tavakolian, stating: "The selection of photographs by Niyousha Tavakolian for the cover of Time is a unique experience." According to this newspaper, "Time magazine published a file about Iran in its November issue. The magazine chose the headline 'Iran 2025' for its cover photo" and "inside the pages and in the text of this article, the question is asked whether Iran is finally ready for change?" The newspaper Etemad, while publishing a report on the "electoral lists of reformists and principlists," referred to the "duality of Mohammad Reza Aref - Gholamali Haddad" and wrote: "The elections for the tenth parliament and the competition between reformists and principlists can be summarized in the duality of Aref-Haddad. Two politicians who have been sitting next to each other in the Expediency Council for several years, respecting each other, whispering to each other, and occasionally joking and laughing together. Whatever it is, these two politicians have a special place in the showcase of the electoral competition between reformists and principlists." Ahmad Gholami, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Shargh, in an editorial titled "The Political Future of Seyyed Hassan Khomeini" wrote: "Some questions are simple, but their answers are difficult. One of these simple questions, which is currently raised by some individuals and political groups, is: Will Seyyed Hassan Khomeini participate in the Assembly of Experts elections?" The editorial writer of the Shargh newspaper emphasized that "if Seyyed Hassan Khomeini does not participate in the upcoming Assembly of Experts elections, he will not lose his potential. Therefore, one should not reduce a potential that can become active and create and change a policy to a possible and actual matter." The continuation of reactions to the arrests of journalists; "It Might Happen to You Too" The newspapers Farhikhtegan, Iran, and Bahar in their Saturday issues reacted to the arrests of journalists on charges of "infiltration" and rejected the televised statements of two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against the arrested journalists. A few days after the arrest of Eisa Saharkhiz, Ehsan Mazandarani, Afrin Chitsaz, and Saman Safarzadeh, the newspaper Farhikhtegan published a note titled "It Might Happen to You Too" stating: "Following the arrest of several media activists in the country, government-critical media outlets, from state television to news websites and newspapers belonging to this spectrum, have created a foggy atmosphere by publishing numerous, voluminous, inaccurate, general, and in many cases false news, which has left many political analysts unable to understand the reasons behind such arrests." Hamid Motaghi, a columnist for the Farhikhtegan newspaper, referred to the presence of Hamid Reza Moghadamfar, advisor to the IRGC commander, in a special news program on the second channel of Iranian television, where he made accusations such as "perception-making" and transferring money "to these individuals through exchange offices" by a security agent in this program against the arrested journalists, stating: If you have not seen this program and "are told that these sentences are the opinions of a security expert from the Ministry of Intelligence of the eleventh government regarding critics of the government's nuclear policies in the JCPOA, what reaction would you have to these claims?" Probably, if you support the government and are not happy with rival media, you would find evidence of the proximity of a certain editorial of a prominent newspaper critical of the government and a news report from Yedioth Ahronoth or evaluate the positions of a certain anti-JCPOA figure close to the editors of Maariv. And if you are a critic of the government, you would likely try to question the intentions of those who are confronting. The columnist of the Farhikhtegan newspaper, posing the question, "Can anyone be identified as agents of foreign infiltration based solely on any potential similarity in the discourse of the intellectual, news, and other productions of sections of domestic elites and foreign media?" wrote: "Looking at the legal and historical experiences of other countries, it can be concluded that public demands in such cases should be clarification and a request for the publication of the charges without regard to prevailing political analyses, alongside creating a fair space for the defendants to defend against the attributed offenses." The Farhikhtegan newspaper wrote: "Given that no legal and court-worthy reasons have been presented regarding last week's arrests, it seems that this demand could become the focal point of all media interested in this country, regardless of their political affiliations, whether principlist, independent, reformist, or transformative." The columnist of the Farhikhtegan newspaper urged media activists from various political spectrums to emphasize the "demand for the publication of charges" and "creating a fair space for the defendants to defend against the attributed offenses" regarding the arrested journalists, writing that this is a demand that "if fulfilled, all media personnel with any ideology will benefit from it in potential future challenges," while "this transformation will cause those involved in such cases to realize that their role is different from that of columnists and analysts of government-critical media, and if their statements go beyond the evidence and documents of the case and are based on analysis—whether correct or incorrect—they will be held accountable by public opinion." The Iran newspaper also, in its editorial titled "Who is Appropriating 'Infiltration'?" wrote: "In an atmosphere clouded by the propaganda of extremists, Hassan Rouhani sounded the alarm about the distortion and misuse of the recent statements of the leader." Mohammad Noori, in the editorial of the Iran newspaper, criticized the various accusations made in a special news program on the second channel of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the arrested journalists, stating: "The producers of the program initially promised in their extensive calls that they would inform the public about the details of the journalists' arrests, but ultimately what was presented to the audience after the 10:30 PM news was not information or details related to the arrest of several journalists, but a collection of claims and accusations that the program's guest and a senior news manager during the previous government concocted against the current government." The Iran newspaper assessed the arrests of journalists as part of the actions of the opposition to the government, stating: "The behavior of the opposition to the government in exploiting the issue of infiltration was so hasty that even prominent principlist figures expressed their discontent," including "the warning note from Ahmad Tavakoli, one of the many reactions from principlist leaders who warned against the dilution of leadership discussions in political disputes." The editorial writer of the Iran newspaper emphasized: "What the special guest of the television said about infiltration not only had no color of reality but was also a clear distortion and manipulation of the facts of the past two years," as he [Hamid Reza Moghadamfar] clearly knows that the phenomenon of infiltration occurs when the government, like the eight years of the previous government, resorts to covert diplomacy instead of open and formal negotiation, and the disaster of infiltration and dependency occurs when a country loses all its tools and levers of power in the region and global system and becomes an isolated and rejected member, a situation we precisely encountered in the final years of the tenth government." Mostafa Izadi also, in the editorial of the Bahar newspaper titled "Word of the Day: Infiltration," wrote: "If all instances of vulnerability to infiltration are to be sought among the supporters of the government and reformists, specifically targeting journalists, it is undoubtedly a step in the wrong direction." The editorial writer of the Bahar newspaper wrote: "When it is easy to guess that if the enemy wants to infiltrate, which point it will target, some misuse the word infiltration to prevent certain actions leading to confrontations with individuals in the name of infiltration from becoming clear to the public and not informing political activists about how to identify vulnerable individuals, but public concern remains intact." The Bahar newspaper wrote: "Is there anyone who does not know that infiltration by others reaches centers that are important and influential and can direct public opinion to the desired point of the infiltrator? So why are actions taken against individuals who likely have no role in shaping public opinion?" The editorial writer of the Bahar newspaper emphasized that "the concern of the respected President in his last speech was precisely that there should be no misuse of infiltration." The newspaper Shahre Vandan, in a report, examined the "directive banning American imports," stating: "The entry and supply of two categories of American goods have become a crime." According to this newspaper, "In the current anti-American atmosphere in Iran, which just a few days ago led to the closure of a restaurant resembling the American KFC, now stricter restrictions are to be imposed on American goods, and the prohibition of the supply and import of American consumer goods and goods that symbolize American products is on the official agenda of the country, making the import of these goods illegal." The Shahre Vandan newspaper, referring to the directive from the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade regarding the prohibition of "importing two categories of goods from America," wrote: "As inferred from the minister's directive, the import and supply of any consumer goods that symbolize American products are prohibited," but this is not the whole story, as according to the statements of Yadollah Sadighi, head of the Center for Trade and Commerce in Iran, "the prohibition of importing American products will not be limited to consumer goods, and the entry of goods with American lifestyle characteristics is also prohibited." This newspaper wrote: "While the import of consumer goods into the country has been banned, a significant portion of the goods that have been officially imported from this country consists of durable and intermediary goods, and most consumer goods in the country are imported through smuggling and indirectly." This newspaper pointed to "the booming visits of European and Asian trade delegations to Iran" and wrote: "There is fierce competition among various countries to invest and increase their trade balance with Iran to access the 75 million-strong Iranian market within the 300 million population of the Middle East. In this context, the United States, which has minimized its trade relations with Iran over the past three decades due to its policies, is seeking to re-export its products to Iran to not fall behind in competition with its rivals." Etemad, referring to the fact that after the JCPOA, "new conditions were created in Iran and the situation was shaped anew," wrote: "With the leader's order to the president, comprehensive pursuit of resistance economy, strengthening national production, preventing excessive imports, and avoiding the import of consumer goods from America became the government's priority, and with this order, the directive for...