Media insolence at the height of mourning; mocking the bodies of protesters and a ridiculous display of government "justice"

The media's insolence and mockery of the protesters' corpses is not an individual error, but rather a reflection of the true face of a government that both kills and mocks the dead.

While the families of those who died in the January 1404 protests are still mourning the loss of their loved ones who were taken from them by bullets and government repression, the media affiliated with the same power structure, instead of responding and accepting responsibility, have openly ridiculed and insulted the victims; behavior that has not only aroused public anger, but has also left a new wound in the hearts of the grieving families.

A video circulated on social media on Sunday, February 12, in which the host, with a mocking smile and a tone laced with sarcasm, poses a question that reveals the depth of the state-run media’s moral decline. He asks the audience: “In what refrigerator does the Islamic Republic store the bodies?” He then offers several options for answers; as if he is not talking about the bodies of people whose families are still in shock, fear, and mourning, but rather a subject for a television joke and humiliation of the victims.

Now, on Monday, February 13, 2021, the Mizan news agency affiliated with the Islamic Republic’s judiciary announced that the Tehran prosecutor has filed a criminal complaint against the then director of Ofogh Network, the agents, and the host of a television program, and a legal case has been opened against them. This news was released following the widespread release of a video from the program “Xat-Xat-Xat” on the Ofogh Network, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard Corps; a program that blatantly mocked the killing of protesters.

After the wave of public anger rose, Mizan News Agency wrote: "Also, an investigation and investigation into the possible motives that may be behind the production and broadcast of this offensive program is on the agenda of the relevant judicial authority."

Shortly afterwards, the IRIB's public relations department announced that Sadeq Yazdani, the director of Ofogh Network, had been dismissed from his position after broadcasting a program with content that was "insulting to the martyrs and victims of the January 11th events," and that the broadcast of the program "Khat-Khat-Khat" had also been stopped.

But what the government is trying to frame as a "judicial confrontation" and a response to public opinion is, in the eyes of many, nothing more than another ostentatious and insulting show. A show in which the same system that killed and arrested protesters, hid the bodies, and threatened the families now pretends to be shocked by the mockery of the corpses.

This naked contradiction, more than anything else, exposes the structural hypocrisy of the Islamic Republic. The media, which for years has been the propaganda arm of repression, suddenly becomes a victim in order to hide the real story: “the direct responsibility of the government for the killing of citizens.”

Indicting a few media executives or managers will neither heal the pain of the families who have not even been allowed to hold mourning ceremonies, nor will it answer for the blood that was spilled on the streets. These actions are more like sacrificing second-rate figures; a desperate attempt to maintain a collapsed facade.

On the other hand, the very fact of broadcasting such a program shows that mocking the deaths of protesters is not an individual lapse, but rather part of the culture that dominates the power-dependent media; a culture that sees the victim as a "number," a "funeral," or a "joke" and not a human being.

For families who have lost their children to bullets, hearing these words is not only an insult, but also
It is like pouring salt on the open wound of grief.

Public opinion knows full well that justice will not be served by these dramatic scenarios. As long as the main perpetrators and perpetrators of the killing of protesters remain in the safe fringes of power, any further “declaration of guilt” will be nothing more than a discredited political show; a show that neither controls the anger of society nor hides the truth.

These cases are not a sign of authority, but a sign of the structural decay of a system that, in moments of crisis, sacrifices even its closest propaganda tools, without thinking for a moment about the pain of the people who are still grieving and have not yet received answers.