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Rouhani for Nobel Peace - Netanyahu’s Jeans Comment - Zarif and Kayhan

OCTOBER 1ST- 15TH 2013

CYBERSPACEREPORT

PERSIAN

ASL19 CYBERSPACE

REPORT

PERSIAN OCTOBER 1ST- 15TH 2013

RESPONSES TO NETANYAHU’S JEANS COMMENT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s

comments about Iranians wearing jeans

and listening to Western music garnered a

considerable amount of attention in Iranian

cyberspace. Social media networks were

inundated with pictures of young Iranians

wearing jeans and listening to western

music accompanied with the hashtags

#jeans and #iranjeans. Referencing this,

Toronto-based blogger Aida Ahadiany

wrote on her Facebook page that although

she hates Netanyahu and his policies, she

cannot forget that the government of Iran

does set strict dress codes.

Ahadiany reminded her readers that

although wearing jeans is not forbidden

in Iran, wearing shorts and tight denim

is. While recognizing Iranians’ familiarity

with Western music, she added, “Where

do Iranians buy artists’ official albums?

Can western musicians hold concerts in

Iran, or do Iranians have to fly to other

countries, like Turkey and Dubai, to see

their favourite bands live?” Ahadiany

believed Netanyahu used bad examples

to talk about the absence of freedom of

expression and freedom of dress in Iran.

Other users echoed this sentiment writing

that although Netanyahu’s comment was

inappropriate, the Iranian government still

controls dress and censor music.

Referening Netanyahu’s comments, famous

Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani published

a cartoon.

The cartoon shows a girl saying “Look Mr. Netanyahu we all wear jeans” as a

regime officer chases her.

ZARIF TAKES TO FACEBOOK TO DENY KAYHAN REPORTAn October 8th Facebook post by Foreign

Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif explained

that he spent a couple of hours in the

hospital after suffering from back pain and

muscle spasms brought on by a misquote

in the hardline newspaper Kayhan. The

paper reported that Zarif called his meeting

with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and

the historic phone conversation between

President Rouhani and Obama a “mistake.”

Zarif vowed to not hold any more closed-

door meetings and said that all his remarks

would be made in public from now on.

Kayhan’s readers appeared pleased with

the report, and some thanked Zarif for

being honest about his mistakes during the

NYC trip. Many readers said that Zarif’s

Facebook post and trip to the hospital

showed weakness. They asked Zarif how he

will be able to confront the U.S. and P5+1

on Iran’s nuclear program if a newspaper

headline can send him to the hospital.

Payam Fazlinejad, a member of Kayhan’s

editorial board, wrote on his Facebook

page that “if the whole truth [about Zarif’s

meeting with MPs] was published, Zarif

would be in much more pain.” Some users

replied to Fazlinejad’s post and asked him to

reveal the source of the news, while others

criticized the threatening tone of his post.

On BBC Persia’s report of the incident,

one reader commented that the greatest

enemies to Iran’s new government are

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

and Hossein Shariatmadari, Kayhan

editor-in chief and close aide to Ayatollah

Ali Khamenei. Another user wrote

that if reformist newspapers had

been closed for spreading lies and

revealing confidential documents in

the past, Kayhan should also be shut

down for publishing a false report.

@AghBahman tweeted, “the main

reason Shariatmadari dislikes

Zarif is that the [number of]

likes on Zarif’s page is greater

than Kayhan’s circulation.” Ali

Alizadeh, a London-based political

activist, used this opportunity to

discuss the unblocking of social

networks. He tweeted, “another

reason for unfiltering of Facebook: Zarif’s

page has over 400,000 followers [despite

being filtered], and Kayhan’s circulation

hardly reaches 100,000, even though it is

distributed for free.”

The story was made the topic of a Mullah

Piaz comic strip. In the panels below,

Mullah Piaz says he hopes other radical

conservative figures like DehNamaki and

Salahshoor do not attack Zarif in the future

because “he might actually die.”

READERS’ NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER: HASSAN ROUHANI

Earlier this month, Saeed Kamali Dehghan nominated Rouhani in

The Guardian’s online poll for who should win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Rouhani won with 76% of the vote.

While some encouraged people to vote for Rouhani online, others

called Rouhani’s nomination “ridiculous,” comparing the nomination to

Obama’s 2009 win and the European Union’s 2012 Nobel Peace Prize

wins. Referencing the Iranian #jeans Twitter campaign @BTonekaboni

tweeted, “I think if Rouhani wins the Nobel Peace Prize, he should

receive it on stage wearing jeans.”

Entekhab.ir provided a link to the poll, where one reader commented,

“I chose Rouhani as President but I think he still has a long way to go

[before he can] be considered a worthy nominee for the Nobel Peace

Prize.”

The Facebook page “Iranians of Facebook” shared the story with its

fans, receiving over 480 likes and over 160 shares for the post. The

post’s most popular comment considered former Iranian president

Mohammad Khatami a more worthy candidate for the prize. Another

user wrote that although Rouhani has taken some steps in the right

direction, it is too early to award him the prestigious Nobel Prize.

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