The anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis is November 4th. On that day in 1979, a group of people calling themselves “Student Followers of the Imam’s line” assaulted the US embassy in Tehran. For 444 days, 52 US embassy personnel and diplomats were held captive.

Hostage-takers has become the regime’s Minister

Ezzatollah Zarghami, one of the hostage-takers, has become the regime’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism 42 years later. He was a classmate of Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam, who went on to become the Revolutionary Guards‘ father (IRGC). He, like Tehrani-Moghadam, joined the IRGC shortly after the 1979 revolution, and he advanced quickly through the regime’s ranks due to his loyalty to the regime and its fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.

Zarghami is also well-known for his ten-year tenure as the chairman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). He was instrumental in suppressing free speech and limiting people’s access to free information. As a result, the European Union sanctioned him “for human rights violations.” In the United States, he has sanctioned under the category “Entities Designated as Human Rights Abusers or Limiting Free Expression.”

 

 

The IRIB cover up the death of Neda Agha-Soltan

Forced confessions of people arrested during the 2009 protests were broadcast on the IRIB. Despite the fact that this brutal technique is not new, it has reached unprecedented heights in the aftermath of three big uprisings in Iran in 2009, 2018, and 2019. Several journalists and political activists, including former regime officials, were tortured and forced to admit their role in the protests and express remorse in front of IRIB cameras.

The IRIB has also made numerous attempts to cover up the death of Neda Agha-Soltan by a plainclothes security officer. Many accusations have been leveled against Neda Agha-Soltan and her family in stories and documentaries shown on different IRIB channels. According to IRIB, Neda was an actress, and the photographs of her death were staged.

 

 

More than a dozen dual citizens imprisoned in Iran

The regime’s main propaganda arm plays a critical role in spreading, promoting, and disseminating the regime’s medieval ideology and interpretation of Islam. It has made every effort to discriminate against ethnic and religious minorities. The IRIB has a long history of reiterating the regime’s misogynistic ideas. In numerous programs, it has regularly promoted and normalized violence against women.

When Zarghami was appointed as the regime’s new Minister of Culture and Tourism, he stated that the “Islamic Republic welcomes tourists with open arms.” Western tourists and diplomats should think twice before flocking to his “open arms” because of his role in oppressing people. More than a dozen dual citizens or foreign nationals who have gone to Iran for studies or family visits are currently imprisoned in Iranian jails, with no prospect of freedom.

 

 

Neda’s  open eyes moved the world and the Iranian nation.”

Zarghami and the IRIB have long attempted to smear reality by repeating regime talking points, airing forced confessions, and spreading hatred. It is enough to pay attention to his brazen remarks regarding Neda’s death and his depiction of her as an actress to grasp how vile he is.

In response to his disrespectful words, Neda’s mother, Soltan’s Hajar Rostami, stated: “Neda was not an actress. She was a human being, a youth like a thousand others. Mr. Zarghami, our Neda’s eyes stayed open. Her eyes will stay open until she achieves her goal [of freedom]. Her open eyes moved the world and the Iranian nation.”

 

 

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