"The Wedding of the Beauties"; "Marriage of Girls Aged 7 to 11"

The newspapers Farhikhtegan, Vaghaye Ettefaghieh, Jahan San'at, Etemad, Arman, Hamdeli, Sepid, Aftab Yazd, Mardomsalari, Etemad, Bani Film, Rouzan, Shahrevand, and Donya-ye Eghtesad dedicated the front page of their Tuesday, July 21 issue to the farewell and burial ceremony of the honored Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. The newspapers Iran, Afkar, Forsat-e Emruz, Tejarat, Kaseb o Kar, and Shargh also printed photos from this ceremony in one of their front page columns. None of the newspapers close to the principlists printed a photo of Abbas Kiarostami's farewell ceremony on their front page. Among these, the newspaper Javan with the headline "Where is the Creator of 'Where is the Friend's House?' Rested in Lavasan" and the newspaper Khorasan with the headline "Farewell to the Creator of Life" published news of this ceremony in one of their front page columns, but the newspapers Jam-e Jam affiliated with the state radio and television, as well as Kayhan, Vatan-e Emruz, Resalat, Siyasat-e Rooz, Quds, and Hemayat made no mention of the funeral ceremony of Abbas Kiarostami on their front page. "The Wedding of the Beauties" is a report by Narges Joudaki in the newspaper Shahrevand about "the marriage of girls aged 7 to 11 in the village of Pask-e Sofla" in the Khoy County of West Azerbaijan province. According to this newspaper, "Girls in Pask-e Sofla are engaged at the ages of 7 to 11. The candy-breaking ceremony is held with the presence of the village cleric. A religious contract is read, and the bride and groom begin their married life 3 to 4 years later," and thus, "the law prohibiting the registration of marriages under 15 years cannot solve the problem of these girls." Even the village chief has stated: "The residents have an office in Urmia that can ignore the laws." The reporter of the Shahrevand newspaper wrote, quoting the villagers of Pask-e Sofla: "A girl in the third grade of elementary school is about to get engaged," and quoted the wife of the village chief as saying: "Girls who become mothers early often suffer from illnesses. Their teeth and hair fall out. They have stomach pains. They get sick a lot," and even "some become menstruating at their husband's house. They are thin, their children are weak, and they remain short in height." According to this newspaper, in a study conducted by Sima Aslani, a researcher and counseling expert, during the years 2007-2008 regarding the students of this village, "out of 59 registered girls in the first grade of elementary school, only 10 reached the fifth grade, and none of these 10 registered in middle school." The newspaper Farhikhtegan, owned by Azad University, published a large photo of Abbas Kiarostami's supporters in a view of Hojjat Street in Tehran, showing the significant presence of people and artists at this ceremony. This newspaper, with the headline "The Grandeur of Mourning," wrote: "July 20 will undoubtedly be remembered in the history of Iranian cinema as a day of a grand farewell to the director of 'Where is the Friend's House?'" This newspaper dedicated two pages of its middle sections to publish details of this ceremony and the text of the speeches, and Mehrbanu Abedi Doost in the report for Farhikhtegan wrote: "The grand farewell on Sunday from Hojjat Street to the Turk Mazraeh Cemetery in Lavasan gathered Kiarostami's admirers, who felt that he was no longer a stranger among his people and in his homeland." The newspaper Hamdeli also dedicated its front page to a photo from this ceremony with the headline "Farewell, from the Friend's House to Under the Cherry Trees," stating: "While thousands attended the funeral of Abbas Kiarostami, an Iranian filmmaker and artist in Tehran, causing the surrounding streets to be blocked, Abbas Kiarostami's body was escorted from in front of the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults with the presence of people, artists, and some political and cultural figures to his eternal resting place." This newspaper emphasized that "the funeral procession of Kiarostami from in front of the Center for the Intellectual Development carried a special meaning," writing: "In the post-revolution conditions and the restrictions of that era, it was the filmmakers of the Center for the Intellectual Development who were able to create their works in a safe environment, of which Kiarostami was the foremost." The newspaper Arman, in addition to printing photos showing the significant and widespread presence of admirers at Abbas Kiarostami's funeral, referred to this ceremony as "a grand farewell to Mr. Director," writing that Abbas Kiarostami's body was buried in the Turk Mazraeh Cemetery in Lavasan, accompanied by his family and artists such as Asghar Farhadi, Bahman Farmanara, Mahtab Keramati, Majid Mozaffari, Faramarz Gharibian, Negar Eskandari, Niki Karimi, Mohsen Abdolvahab, Marila Zarei, Pegah Ahangarani, Jafar Panahi, Mona Zandi Haghighi, Hooman Sidi, Ehtiram Boroumand, Amin Hayai, Mahmoud Kalari, Bijan Emkaniyan, Mostafa Ahmadi, Mohammad Ali Sajadi, and Hooshang Golmakani. According to this newspaper, a group of Kiarostami's filmmaking workshop students sang "Ey Iran" and "Morgh-e Sahar" during the burial to bid farewell to their master. The newspaper Arman is also one of the few newspapers that published Asghar Farhadi's speech at Abbas Kiarostami's funeral without censorship, quoting him addressing Abbas Kiarostami: "Dear Kiarostami, you restored the name of the land to a respected and pleasant name. You did not fight against this soil by ignoring, being unappreciated, and the obstacles of the political elite." Most other newspapers printed Asghar Farhadi's speech without the phrase "the obstacles of the political elite." The newspaper Jahan San'at chose the headline "The First Welcome, The Last Farewell" alongside a photo from Abbas Kiarostami's farewell ceremony, emphasizing that "the farewell ceremony for Abbas Kiarostami was held grandly. A ceremony that could have been held many times over the years with his presence. It is a pity that political games and the views of some cultural managers did not allow Kiarostami to face his people as he should have." This newspaper noted that "people alongside Kiarostami's name also called out the name of another beloved artist," writing: "Mohammad Reza Shajarian, who is currently battling cancer and has long been denied the opportunity to hold concerts in his own country. People wrote on their placards, 'Kiarostami is gone, Shajarian is here.'" Nader Karimi Jooni in the editorial of Jahan San'at titled "The Behavior of Officials and Kiarostami's Death" wrote that Kiarostami "could not make films in Iran in recent years and had to pursue his filmmaking profession abroad. Therefore, while the world enjoyed Kiarostami's filmmaking and cinema students around the world learned how to look and think from this prominent Iranian filmmaker, his compatriots were deprived of this blessing." The editorial writer of Jahan San'at emphasized that "the government's strictness towards Abbas Kiarostami continued even after his death," writing that while about two weeks ago Hassan Rouhani said, "We should not be afraid of narrow-mindedness and should insist on continuing the path and artistic efforts," he noted that "the government whose president makes such recommendations reacted coldly to Abbas Kiarostami's death," and even Hassan Rouhani himself "avoided giving an official message" and instead "wrote a heartfelt note on Twitter." Jahan San'at also refers to the Islamic Republic's state television's neglect of Abbas Kiarostami's passing but wrote that this "neglect is not surprising, as past governments have not been pleased with the national successes of independent individuals and have not been saddened by the bitter events that occur to them" and "therefore such behavior towards Abbas Kiarostami's death was expected, but what is unexpected is the behavior of the president after that explicit speech in front of artists." The newspaper Etemad also, alongside its front page photo with the headline "Farewell, the Calm Soul of Cinema," referred to "the calm mourning of the people and the tribute of artists" to Abbas Kiarostami and published part of the speech of Ahmad Kiarostami, Kiarostami's eldest son, at this ceremony, who said about his father: "A few years ago, when a memorial ceremony was held for him in Iran, he said; a person goes to so many festivals in the world, but what is at home is something else. If he were here and saw the love people show, he would definitely cling to it." This newspaper also reported on the funeral and burial ceremony of "Maliheh Nikjoumand," stating: "Maliheh Nikjoumand, known by her stage name Shideh, was a veteran actress in cinema, a familiar face for Iranian cinema lovers and critics. She passed away on July 18 and was quietly and without fanfare, just as she played in her roles, carried by a few artists to her eternal resting place." "Every four days, a hassle" is the headline of the Etemad newspaper, reviewing "80 crises" against the government from June 2015 to July 2016, emphasizing that "if the reformist government faced a crisis every 9 days, ten years later this number has dropped to less than half for Rouhani's government" and "a review of the past year, from June 2015 to now, shows that the government has faced at least 80 hassles from its opponents in the months leading up to the parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections and, of course, the months after." Zeynab Safari in the report for Etemad named "radical currents within the ninth parliament," "self-styled forces," "the Stability Front and radical principlists," "the media current including news agencies, websites, and social networks," "state television," "some eulogists," and "Ahmadinejad and his supporters" as the "centers of trouble-making against the government," writing: "Self-styled forces and radical currents within the ninth parliament played the largest role in opposing the government until the elections and the beginning of 2016. However, after the elections and with the start of 2016, the government’s opponents, who lost an important arm, namely the ninth parliament, focused their efforts on media events against the government." According to this newspaper, with the start of 2016, the "media current" became the most important player in creating troubles against Hassan Rouhani's government, and "if before and after the conclusion of the nuclear negotiations, the government faced a series of illegal gatherings against the nuclear negotiations or impeachment and questioning of ministers or labeling the foreign minister as a traitor in parliament, after the start of 2016 and the victory of the government’s supporters in the parliamentary elections, now the government officials are facing media challenges" and "one day they have to deny the resignation or dismissal of a minister, and the next day they have to position the president's brother next to him to deny the rumor of his arrest." The newspaper Shargh used the story of Turkey Al-Faisal's presence and speech at the Mojahedin-e Khalq conference as the basis for a cartoon in which the former head of Saudi Arabia's security apparatus is seen opening a coffin in which Massoud Rajavi is lying. This newspaper, with the headline "The Death Announcement of a Dead Man," wrote that "Turkey Al-Faisal revealed the death of the first man" of the Mojahedin-e Khalq organization "while Massoud Rajavi has not appeared in public for years; since April 2003, no film or photo of him has been recorded." Nazhat Amirabadian in the report for Shargh described the "armed war declaration against the Islamic Republic" on June 30, 1981, as "the last nail in the coffin" of Massoud Rajavi, noting that on Saturday, July 9, 2016, Turkey Al-Faisal, while attending the annual Mojahedin-e Khalq conference in Paris, "announced the death of Massoud Rajavi, the former leader of this group" and "in his remarks in Arabic, referred to Massoud Rajavi as 'the late.'" However, the spokesperson for this organization immediately announced that "there has been a misinterpretation and incorrect conclusion from Turkey Al-Faisal's remarks on Sunday." The newspaper Vatan-e Emruz, close to the Stability Front, also dedicated its front page to Turkey Al-Faisal and described the former head of the Saudi intelligence service's presence at the Mojahedin-e Khalq meeting as "a terror arrangement in Paris," criticizing the "silence of the Foreign Ministry in the face of the open support of Al Saud for the Mojahedin-e Khalq." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, also dedicated its front page to Turkey Al-Faisal and wrote with the headline "Saudi on the Path of Saddam" that "the Saudis are seeking to produce an Iranian ISIS from the remnants of the Mojahedin-e Khalq." This newspaper also wrote that Turkey Al-Faisal's presence at the annual Mojahedin-e Khalq conference should be seen as a kind of reaction to the regional humiliation of the Saudis in the face of the regional influence of the Islamic Republic, and they have proven that they will reach out to anyone and anything to counter Iran. This newspaper also noted that "God's grace has been upon the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic, as the largest terrorist and armed opposition group to the regime has first sought refuge in Saddam's arms and now in the arms of the Saudis" and that is why "the estimates announced by the West indicate that the Mojahedin-e Khalq have no political-social standing in Iran." The newspaper Javan also has a report in its Tuesday issue about "the reduction of the defense budget," writing: "In a strange event, the government in the budget reform bill for 2016 has removed nearly 5 trillion tomans from the country's defense budget." Mohammad Dehghan, a member of parliament, told this newspaper that this 5 trillion tomans is equivalent to 1.7 billion dollars that the Ministry of Defense won in an international lawsuit and after that, the ninth parliament approved that it should be provided to the armed forces, but the government opposes such action and resolution. The newspaper Resalat dedicated its front page to Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh and reported on the "failed assassination attempt on the life of the representative of Islam Abad Gharb," writing that "Falahatpisheh was attacked and wounded on his way to Shahr-e Rijah, and in addition to him, the governor and the director general of the veterinary organization of the region were injured, but the driver of the governor and the head of the veterinary organization were killed in this ambush."