The Beginning of a Victim's Life

The newspaper Shargh dedicated a photo issue on June 9 to the "Bell of Hope in Baharestan" and the opening ceremony of the tenth parliament. The photo features several officials present at the ceremony, including Hassan Rouhani, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ahmad Jannati, Sadegh Larijani, Hassan Khomeini, Gholamali Haddad Adel, Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, Yahya Rahim Safavi, and Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the head of the Islamic Republic's leader's office, as well as Ali Larijani. The newspaper wrote: "The bell that voters of the elections on February 26 and May 10 were waiting for finally rang at 8:45 AM on Saturday, by Abdulreza Hashemzai, the elected representative of Tehran and the senior president of the tenth parliament." Shargh also mentioned the eleven seats in the front row of this ceremony, stating: "Ali Larijani, unlike all the representatives of the tenth parliament who were seated in representative seats, sat among the leaders and special guests of the ceremony, and of course next to Nategh Nouri," while Mohammad Aref's seat was located in the middle of the parliament hall. Mehdi Ghadimi, a parliamentary reporter for Shargh, pointed out that "the most different section of the parliament compared to previous parliaments was the special rows for women," noting that "while there was always a row of middle seats reserved for 9 female representatives in the ninth parliament, yesterday these seats increased to two rows. However, out of a total of 18 seats, two seats remained empty; because contrary to what the President emphasized, the Guardian Council considered the number of female representatives in parliament to be not 18, but 17, and the Ministry of Interior, by yielding to this opinion of the Guardian Council, did not send the credentials of Minoo Khalighi to the parliament." According to Shargh, the second empty seat among the women in parliament belonged to Zahra Saei, the elected representative of Tabriz, who was absent from the opening ceremony due to the "recounting of all votes in the second stage of Tabriz," just as other elected representatives of Tabriz and the elected representative of Ahar and Haris were also absent from this ceremony. Shargh noted that "Khaled Zamzamnejad, whose votes were also annulled after receiving more than 60% of the votes in Bandar Lengeh, was another figure whose seat was empty," reminding that "Mohammad Ali Hosseinzadeh, the representative of Maragheh and Ajabshir, who died in a car accident on the way to Tehran, was another representative whose seat remained empty in yesterday's session." The newspaper also referred to "the first controversy of the tenth parliament," writing that Abdulreza Hashemzai, the senior president of the tenth parliament, mistakenly addressed Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the head of the Islamic Republic's leader's office, as "Mohammadi-Gilani," and corrected his statement with the attendees' reminders, which was accompanied by a joke from Hojjatoleslam Mohammadi Golpayegani. The newspaper Etemad also reported on this ceremony, mentioning "the first protest in the open session of the tenth parliament," stating: "Behrouz Naimati, the representative of Tehran, shouted before the Minister of Interior's speech in the parliament: 'Oath, Oath...' Some other representatives present in the hall joined him in these shouts, protesting 'the change of the agenda of the open session, as the oath ceremony should have been held before the Minister of Interior's speech, and ultimately this ceremony took place after the speech of Abdulreza Rahmani Fazli.'" According to this newspaper, "The first official session of the tenth parliament began with 265 representatives, but the number of present representatives increased, reaching 282 at the time of the oath." The newspaper Iran, close to the government, in an editorial titled "Commitment to the slogans is the people's demand from Baharestan," wrote: "The tenth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly began its work in a situation where Iranian society is facing, on one hand, the achievements and results emerging from the first steps of implementing the JCPOA, and on the other hand, various economic, social, cultural, and even political difficulties." Elaheh Koulaei, in the editorial of this newspaper, wrote: "Representatives of the tenth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly must today fully understand the necessity of implementing the law in all behaviors governing the country, and at the same time, the formulation and implementation of appropriate policies and programs to combat corruption, rent-seeking, and addressing various forms of inequalities and social, gender, regional, and ethnic injustices should be at the forefront of their work and programs." The newspaper Iran also highlighted Hassan Rouhani's remarks at this ceremony, quoting the Iranian President as saying: "The people showed extraordinary courage and growth in this election. No faction boycotted the elections, and no one got tired of the twists and turns of electoral regulations; everyone made the most of the minimum opportunity." The newspaper Kayhan dedicated its front page to a part of the Supreme Leader's message to the tenth parliament, quoting from this message that "resistant economy and Islamic culture are two immediate priorities of the tenth parliament." This newspaper, simultaneously with the first working day of the tenth parliament, targeted the Hope faction of the parliament with verbal attacks, describing it as the "faction of despair." Kayhan also reported that "reformists, aiming to conceal the real weight of reforms in the tenth parliament and to create a bargaining ground for obtaining leadership positions, are trying to persuade Mohammad Reza Aref to withdraw from candidacy for the presidency of the parliament." The newspaper Javan, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also published the Supreme Leader's message to the tenth parliament on its front page and simultaneously wrote in a note titled "Duties and Priorities of the Tenth Baharestan" that this message can be considered "a charter of demands from the Islamic system from the legislative branch in the coming four years," which contains "one revolutionary duty and two important priorities for the tenth parliament." Mohammad Reza Akhavan, in a note in the Javan newspaper, citing the Supreme Leader's message, stated that the revolutionary duty of the representatives of the tenth parliament is to "transform the new parliament into a solid bastion against the tricks and deceptions and the brazen greed of the arrogance and a shining point of support for the faithful and revolutionary people." This newspaper also wrote about the two priorities mentioned by Ayatollah Khamenei: "Realizing the resistant economy with all its necessary requirements and also striving diligently to expand and deepen Islamic culture" are the two priorities desired by the Supreme Leader. The newspaper Shargh has a report about the hacking of several websites affiliated with government institutions, stating: "Neglecting security warnings has caused trouble for government websites." According to this newspaper, "A week has passed since suspicious cyber attacks on some official websites of the country, including the website of the Post Office, the Statistical Center, the Legal Department of the Judiciary, the Legal Deputy of the Judiciary, the Research Center of the Judiciary, and the General Directorate of Translators, and now some attribute it to certain Arab countries, while the Iranian hacking group has also taken action to carry out retaliatory measures against Saudi Arabia." The newspaper Qanoon, in its front page titled "The Beginning of a Victim's Life," reported on "negligence and carelessness in the birth of a child infected with AIDS," accusing a hospital in Tehran of insisting on natural childbirth, which caused the infection and illness of this newborn. This newspaper mentioned the transfer of a "20-year-old homeless woman" from the southern areas of Tehran by "charitable social workers" to the hospital for childbirth, stating that after the medical preparations, this woman's baby was born naturally, and since the mother, due to severe addiction and dual consumption of "crystal and heroin," was not very concerned about her child's condition, this newborn was born infected with "AIDS" due to the mother's hidden illness. Farshid Esfaghari, in the report of Qanoon newspaper, wrote: "Up to this point in the story, considering the repetition of social harms, it is somewhat natural, but the main and tragic point of this newborn's birth is that he could have been born with the least chance of contracting HIV and other infections, but the hospital's negligence caused him to be born infected with the HIV virus. A newborn who may not live more than 5 years, and if he has any remaining life, it will be accompanied by the agony and pain of illness." The newspaper Shahrvand also has a report on "a meeting to examine child abuse in marginal areas," held on the occasion of the murder of "Setayesh Ghareishi" and "the daughters of Azam" on Saturday at the supporters' club of the Imam Ali Society. Amir Mahmoud Harirchi, a university professor and social worker, was one of the speakers at this meeting, stating: "Only in the past year, 8,000 cases of child abuse have been reported in the country; while these are only cases that have reached hospitals and forensic medicine, and they are obliged to report these cases." This university professor criticized some laws related to family, women, and children, saying: "Some laws in the country regarding family, women, and children have created a refuge for the harmful and criminal individual. In our laws, in the name of upbringing, ownership is granted to the male head of the household, and some men do everything because of this ownership; while in today's societies, this assumption cannot be accepted." Masoud Babaei, a social activist, also mentioned at this meeting that a family in Pakdasht, where one of their three children was a victim of Bijan, has, after more than a decade, two other children who are currently 19 and 15 years old, "due to fear of that crime, do not dare to leave the house," as "no one thought about providing social support for these families after Bijan's execution, and certainly the Setayesh family will also not be able to stand on their own feet for many years." Ahmad Jalili, the head of the Iranian Psychiatric Association, regarding the recent reports of multiple suicides, told Shargh newspaper: "I do not have accurate statistics, but the fact that in a specific period, for example, in the last two or three weeks, there have been cases of suicide attempts in a specific and similar manner that have not occurred in the same period in any season or month should draw attention to imitative suicide." The head of the Iranian Psychiatric Association described the statements of one of the responsible officials regarding "the protest nature of these suicides" as "simplistic," stating: "Every suicide attempt can be a protest, a protest against life, against oneself, against others. I do not know what that official meant. This statement falls into the category of the same simplistic interpretations that should be avoided; otherwise, it fuels the wave." Ahmad Jalili, in an interview with Helia Abadi, a reporter for Shargh newspaper, stated that in suicide, "issues related to public health and the mental state of society, social, political, economic issues, conditions of peace and war, economic recession, poverty, and social harms, and many other factors play a role, but this is not all. The role of depression and other diseases must also be mentioned." The head of the Iranian Psychiatric Association warned about "the role of careless reporting regarding imitative suicides," regarding public suicides, stating: "Public suicides are also among the cases that should be thoroughly examined by experts," but "humans are like metals; any problem can help raise their melting point, and ultimately when a person reaches the melting point, these events happen to them. This may be an example that explains how someone chooses this path with a note in their pocket saying, 'I do not have money for my eye surgery.'" Ahmad Jalili also referred to "a guideline regarding the publication of suicide news in newspapers," stating: "The rules for how to report on such an important matter as suicide, which has been prepared internationally and by the World Health Organization, should not be called censorship. There is a humanitarian goal behind these rules, which is to ensure that the way news is reported does not increase the rate of suicide in society. This is not censorship; it is a scientific guideline for how to publish news." The head of the Iranian Psychiatric Association, however, stated that social networks can be "a suitable health opportunity or conversely harmful. The lack of information from those who report news in these networks about the guidelines for news publication and our difficulty in accessing them is a major problem, but these networks can be used for campaigns to prevent and combat suicide and raise public awareness, which is a good opportunity."