The Price of Negligence

The newspaper Shargh has continued to highlight reactions to the apology letter from the former Tehran prosecutor regarding the crimes at Kahrizak detention center, quoting Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of the 10th Parliament, who stated: "Ahmadinejad's support for Mortazavi was surprising to me" and now "Ahmadinejad should explain why he supported Mortazavi despite knowing about his violations." According to the newspaper, Motahari noted that in the apology letter, former Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi acknowledged his mistakes and by using the term "martyr" for the victims of Kahrizak, he effectively recognized the legitimacy of the protesters from 2009. The newspaper also quoted Motahari saying: "Mr. Mortazavi's letter was overall a positive step. He accepted his mistake, and it would be good if he also wrote a letter about Zahra Kazemi to clarify the issue." Shargh also cited lawyer Nemat Ahmadi, who was arrested in 2002 at Mortazavi's behest, stating that on the day of his arrest and "while being sent to prison, I told Mr. Mortazavi, 'You arranged a complaint against me without justification, and now, despite my bail being ready, you refuse to accept it and send me to prison.' However, I have enough integrity to take your defense pro bono when you are tried." But Mortazavi "smirked and said, 'Who will try me?'" Nemat Ahmadi pointed out that in the recent letter, "Saeed Mortazavi admits to his role in sending detainees to the Kahrizak warehouse, and with this letter, he acknowledges that those sent to Kahrizak were oppressed and martyrs." He stated that in the case presented in Branch 22 of the Court of Appeals, Mortazavi's denial and insistence on denial are no longer relevant, and with his current confession, there is no need for further evidence; now Mortazavi should be prosecuted for his role in the premeditated murder of the three victims he referred to as martyrs. The newspaper Arman raised the question: "Why are Mortazavi's supporters silent?" Motahari forgot that besides Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it was Ruhollah Hosseinian who defended the then-prosecutor in 2009, saying: "Mortazavi is one of the revolutionary judges who stood firmly against conspirators and chain newspapers during the eight years of reformist rule and bravely confronted the disruptors and criminals during the 2009 unrest without any hesitation." Matoureh Shafiei in a report for Arman also wrote that "perhaps it did not occur to Saeed Mortazavi that his apology letter would be the beginning of recalling other cases that were closed without the guilty party even expressing regret, such as the case of Zahra Kazemi, which Ali Motahari opened on Wednesday to send a message to society, especially to those who thought that holding a position was a good shield for forgetting their mistakes." The newspaper Etemad referred to the "silence" and "projection" of the principlists in response to Mortazavi's confession letter, stating that principlists "like all topics they dislike, do not intend to bring this issue up or, if forced to comment, prefer to shift the blame away from themselves." The newspaper Siyasat Rooz, close to the principlists, described Saeed Mortazavi's role in the Kahrizak detention center crimes as "negligence" and the young people killed there as "impulsive and simple youths," also stating: "Punishing the perpetrators of Kahrizak will not only comfort the families of the victims of that heartbreaking tragedy, which the Supreme Leader referred to as a painful crime, but will also strengthen the people's bond with the system and maintain the most valuable support of the country, which is popular support." This newspaper also referred to Saeed Mortazavi as the "first accused" of the Kahrizak crimes and implicitly described him as "self-willed," stating that the court "has brought the prosecutor to the brink of apologizing to the victims' families and has fixed its eyes on giving a revolutionary verdict in the coming days. A verdict that could indicate a decisive action against self-willed agents and prevent such tragedies from recurring." The newspaper Siyasat Rooz simultaneously described the accusations against the protesters of the 2009 election results as heavier than those against the then-prosecutor, stating: "We must not forget that the initial negligence was committed by those who did not disavow this sedition and its Western-backed supporters; however guilty Mortazavi may be, his negligence is less than those who brought people to the streets, even though Mortazavi's negligence must also be met with decisive action." Meanwhile, the newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, wrote: "Reformists have recently provided fuel for their uproar with Saeed Mortazavi's belated apology, but they should know that the opponents of the sedition have neither forgotten nor forgiven the crimes of the seditionists." Kobra Asupar, a columnist for this newspaper, also described the use of the term "martyr" in the former prosecutor's letter for the Kahrizak victims as "incorrect," stating: "The incorrect term martyr for the Kahrizak victims in Mortazavi's letter also gives them (the reformists) the opportunity to ride the wave of this political game and feel more justified. They do not forgive the apology of the individual who ordered the transfer of detainees to Kahrizak; however, on the other hand, they call eight months of chaos and statements inviting chaos civil protests." The Javan newspaper emphasized that "repeating news about the sins of people like Mortazavi does not absolve the guilt of Mousavi and Karroubi," referring to the two imprisoned candidates from 2009 as "leaders of the sedition" and stating: "If one day the leaders of the sedition are to be released from house arrest, the path of that release will only lead to court." The newspaper Etemad reported on the "destruction of 14 billion tomans worth of smuggled goods," stating: "On Wednesday, another ceremony for the destruction of smuggled goods was held in eight provinces, and a total of 300 tons of goods worth 12 billion tomans were destroyed across the country to combat smugglers." At the same time, the Secretariat of the Commission for Planning, Coordination, and Supervision of the Fight Against Smuggling of Goods and Currency in Tehran Province also reported the destruction of 100 tons of various smuggled goods worth over 2 billion tomans. This newspaper wrote that after the remarks of the Supreme Leader about burning smuggled goods, "the government's determination to combat smugglers and support domestic production has been reinforced, and this time the government wants to collect the smuggling apparatus at any cost, even at the price of daily and weekly destruction of goods that continue to enter the country through customs." The newspaper Shahrvand reported in an article titled "Buried Workers of the City" that one week after the death of several workers of the Tehran Metro during work, it published "interviews with the families of the workers killed in the Kian Shahr Metro incident," stating: "Tehran municipality officials have not yet provided a proper explanation for the cause of the tunnel collapses" and "the families of the workers killed in the Kian Shahr Metro incident say that no one from the municipality has approached them," and only Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran, posted a text on his Instagram one day after the incident. Elnaz Mohammadi in a report for the Shahrvand newspaper noted that in the latest incident in the Tehran Metro, "40 pieces of concrete, each weighing 4 tons, fell from the ceiling of the Kian Shahr Metro tunnel, crushing four workers under them; three were Iranian and one was Afghan," naming Reza Bahrami and the brothers Gholamreza and Hadi Alizadeh as three of the deceased workers. The Shahrvand newspaper emphasized that this is not the first time that the death of subway construction workers has made headlines, stating: "The death of four workers at the Kian Shahr Metro site, alongside the death of two workers at the Shahriyar Metro in June of this year, has created many controversies about this issue," and now some members of the Tehran City Council, including Abolfazl Ghanavati, say that "the rush to speed up the excavation and advancement of the Tehran Metro has lowered the quality and standards of the workers' work." Ashraf Boroujerdi in an interview with the Nasl-e-Farda newspaper stated that "Hassan Rouhani has not negotiated with the Supreme Leader or the clergy and scholars to meet women's demands" and now in the year leading up to the elections, he must "fulfill women's demands in practice and in speech." Kayhan in its front page emphasized that "the ship of resistance economy will not reach shore with these captains," stating that Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade, who "was appointed to the deputy of the Resistance Economy Headquarters, only 60 days after the eleventh government took office, eliminated the requirement for receiving the Iran code and Shabnam for all goods in the registration system, legitimizing smuggling." The newspaper Khorasan reported that Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, stated that "this council has reached a conclusion on FATF," saying: "The conclusion regarding this treaty is in line with national interests and cannot be anything else," but "the conclusion of the Supreme National Security Council will be implemented only when it is signed, approved, and ratified by the Supreme Leader, and since it has not reached this stage, I cannot say anything further." The newspaper Iran, close to the government, quoted Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, stating: "Addiction, marginalization, divorce, corruption, and crisis areas are the five priorities in controlling social harms." Reza Kordvani, a researcher and analyst of social issues, emphasized in the editorial of this newspaper the "necessity of avoiding denial in social harms," stating: "We must enter with a policy approach in the field of controlling and reducing harms and carry out a series of targeted, time-bound, and sustainable actions. A policy approach means that first, the social issue or problem should be turned into a policy agenda, and a solution should be formulated and implemented for it, and a precise evaluation of the effects of that policy's implementation should also be monitored." The editorial writer of the Iran newspaper emphasized that "in the path of controlling and reducing social harms, we must have hopeful and enthusiastic people and activists alongside us. We must revive vibrant neighborhoods and pay as much attention to the spirit of collective goodwill and increasing the sense of responsibility of excellent citizens as we do to politics and programs."