How Iran News is Made: Adultery, Earthquakes, and the BBC

I leave it to readers to interpret the significance in this tale of modern journalism:

SATURDAY, 17 APRIL, 1235 GMT: EA's global news team is hard at work. A Twitter lead takes us to the activist site Green Voice of Freedom and produces this update:

Tehran Friday Prayer in 3 Words. Apologies that, lost in the southeast US, I was unable to give you an immediate summary of Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi’s Friday Prayer. Here it is….

Adultery Causes Earthquakes

Or, to be precise, Seddiqi said that reducing sins were necessary for preventing the occurrence of natural disasters. And it seems that many Iranian women who do not abide by the Islamic dress code lead youth astray: “They cause the spread of adultery in society which leads to the increase in earthquakes.”

MONDAY, 19 APRIL, 1936 GMT: In more than 10 months of reporting on the post-election crisis in Iran, we have used Britain's Daily Mail exactly once: "Today’s Iran Non-Story: Some Guy Who Looked Like Ahmadinejad Protested in 1984".

Now, however, the "Mail Foreign Service" makes a dramatic discovery:

Women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes, a senior Iranian cleric has said.

Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi's comments follow a warning by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a quake is certain to hit the capital Tehran and that many residents should relocate.

In a prayer sermon, the cleric said: "Many women who do not dress modestly... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes."

TUESDAY, 20 APRIL, 1106 GMT: The BBC's top investigative reporters uncover surprising news:

Women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes, an Iranian cleric says.

Hojjat ol-eslam Kazem Sediqi, the acting Friday prayer leader in Tehran, said women should stick to strict codes of modesty to protect themselves.

"Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes," he explained.

Comments

[Catherine]

Well, on 20 April this was breaking news on CNN - so it's not some "British thing", if you were thinking along those lines :-)

On another note, random headlines on search results pages can be an invaluable source of amusement. Take for example what I saw this morning while looking for news on Iran:

Debate Rages Over Iran's Nuclear Capability, Intentions
Turkey offers to mediate in Iran’s nuclear standoff
US may be in Iran missile range by 2015: report
Iran unveils refurbished F-14's
'Iran has highest number of nose jobs' (Press TV)

[Kate]

oh...but the Daily Mail is just.............great

The Daily Mail Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI

[Catherine]

President Ajmadinejad is jumping on the earthquake cleric bandwagon to get Tehranis to leave the capital:

Not long ago the Iranian president announced that a Tehran cleric had told him that the capital city will soon be jolted by an earthquake making it necessary for the people to repent from sin and leave the city if possible.

According to Jahan, a news source affiliated with the IRGC, Ayatollah Khoshvaght, a well reputed cleric who teaches ethics in Tehran, was the person who informed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the quake. Ayatollah Khoshvaght has reportedly been calling on worshipers at his mosque in Tehran to repent from their sins and leave the city.
Source: Tabnak
http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/pages/?cid=93753

[Catherine]

Where there is adultery, there is divorce (and earthquakes if we are to believe the clerics....) :

Iran Worries About Soaring Divorce Rate
Online college aims to prepare candidates for marriage with Islamic principles.
Iran has launched an online “marriage college” to try to stem a soaring divorce rate that is worrying officials.

The National Youth Organisation, NYO, which is supervised by the government, will award graduates of the college a marriage licence and plans to make this certificate compulsory before anyone can tie the knot.

“This licence will show that the person has acquired the necessary skill and knowledge to maintain a stable family,” said Mehrdad Bazrpash, head of the NYO and a close advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

More: http://www.mianeh.net/en/articles/?aid=298

[perry1949]

Hmmm, does he say anything about hurricanes? I live in Florida and wonder if we should start a petition to close the beaches. Maybe California should think about it too considering all the earthquakes out there! :-)

[rezvan]

Tehranis are more likely to have a nuke thrown at them if Obama's newly revealed pre-emptive nuke option agains Iran is implemented. It might be advisable for the Hojj Kazemi to ask the IRI govt to start building nuclear bunkers.

[Arshama]

Kate,

Thank you so much for the Daily Mail Song! Obviously it is much the same as German BILD, but no song for that unfortunately.
Perhaps you like this one instead, starring my favourite Greenie ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdUeVAkzEas

Arshama

[Catherine]

@ Rezvan "Tehranis are more likely to have a nuke thrown at them ..."

Ah-ha! So THAT'S where the new nuclear installations are going to be built - right in Tehran! Gee, and all this time I thought they'd be located elsewhere deep underneath mountains. Hope the Pentagon isn't an EA reader... :-)

[Kate]

Arshama - ohhh...I'd forgotten about how great Jim Henson was......fab video....thanks :D

[Satish L]

OOh who is he to guide the world; these people are spoiling the globe with terrorism, hatread and now they want to curb liberty of attire. World should oppose islaminization and their stupid practices