Arash Aramesh

Less than a year since violent protests erupted in Tehran and other major cities of Iran, Kayhan, Iran’s largest state-owned newspaper with intimate ties to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, dedicated its main headline on April 25 to praising anti-government protestors in Cairo. Kayhan’s front-page read, “Cairo has become the city of protests against Mubarak,” implicitly praising the protestors in Egypt.

Kayhan called President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt “decrepit.” According to this ultra-conservative newspaper, Gamal Mubarak, President Mubarak’s son and his likely successor, led a group of pro-government parliamentarians asking the police to open fire on the protestors. Kayhan was appalled by Gamal Mubarak’s level of brutality in dealing with “pro-democracy protestors” and claimed that such an action could have caused things to spin out of control.

Kayhan cited reports by human rights organizations condemning the actions of Egyptian security forces in dealing with protestors and reports from major news sources, such as the BBC and CNN.

Less than a year ago, the Iranian government violently suppressed massive peaceful demonstrations in Tehran. Several Iranians were killed on the streets or murdered in prison while hundreds of Iranians still remain in a number of detention facilities throughout Iran. Human right organizations that condemned Iran’s actions, the very same organizations that Kayhan cites in its article, were called “stooges of global Zionism.”

Kayhan’s excitement about unrest in another authoritarian regime in the region exposes the hypocrisy of the Islamic Republic in dealing with popular uprisings. Kayhan’s appreciation for the Basij and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards opening fire on protestors last year in Iran and yesterday’s condemnation of the Egyptian dictatorship for contemplating opening fire on protestors shows how easily those in charge in Tehran forget about their own deeds.

Kayhan’s story also relied heavily on reports from CNN, BBC, and other major news outlets that have always been deemed by Kayhan and the regime in Tehran as centers of American and British propaganda. Shortly after demonstrations started in Tehran following the disputed June 12 election, the Iranian government asked all foreign journalists to leave Iran, fearing their reports would inform the world about the crackdown in Iran. They also feared the Iranian people might gain access to such news and continue their protests against the government.

The BBC Persian service experienced the government’s countermeasures. Because of their dedicated coverage of events in Iran, which provided the Iranian people with news they could not get from sources inside Iran, the BBC Persian service became the primary target of signal jamming efforts by the Islamic Republic through which BBC’s signals were jammed and lots of noise was generated on their broadcasting frequency. This made it almost impossible for the Iranian audience to watch their programs.