Guardian Hosts Tehran Bureau

Tehran Bureau, an independent network of Iran correspondents, joins Guardian to provide in-depth coverage of Iran.

Tehran Bureau became a major source of information on Iran during the disputed 2009 presidential election. With new presidential election in June, the expanding international sanctions, and the continued presence of the threat of a military conflict, the coverage of Iran finds particular importance.

The Guardian already hosts an Iran blog by Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Julian Borger's Global Security blog, and Ian Black's On the Middle East web column. And the Bureau will now be part of its broad coverage of Iran and the region.

“I launched Tehran Bureau to provide a platform for young Iranians and their stories, and to bring unvarnished and uncensored reports to readers around the world,” said Kelly Golnoush Niknejad, the editor-in-chief of Tehran Bureau. “We have been able to cover Iran independently, without trying to fill a policy prescription like the thinktanks do, and this resonates with Iranians in Iran. I am thrilled that we will continue to do so with the Guardian.” (The Guardian, 13 January)

Uskowi on Iran extends its warmest congratulations to Tehran Bureau and its editor-in-chief Kelly Golnoush Niknejad and to the Guardian on their new venture and wishes them success for many years to come.

PBS Frontline and Tehran Bureau parting ways

by Mark Pyruz

It appears to be the end of the line for Tehran Bureau at PBS Frontline. Last December, the news site reported it would no longer be accessible at the PBS url.

Over the years, this writer has been a critic of the Tehran Bureau effort. Reputed to be an "independent news site", TB nearly always fell short of the high standards we Americans have come to expect from PBS Frontline. Tehran Bureau, in not even attempting to provide fair and balanced perspectives toward its Iran coverage, seemed to be in constant violation of PBS Frontline's written guidelines.

Some of Tehran Bureau's low points at PBS:

-Reporting that somewhere near half a million persons were in the streets of Tehran protesting the government in mid-2010, made without a competently administered confirmation process. This was not the case.

-Reporting that Ahmadinejad would likely be dismissed by Khamenei, made without a competently administered confirmation process. This was not the case.

-Staff member Muhammad Sahimi's apparent unwillingness to accept a comment-driven debate to include invited experts on the legitimacy of the 2009 presidential election, while apparently unwilling or incapable of providing his own refutation of the Brill analysis on the election. (To date, no one has come forward to offer a credible point-by-point refutation of the Brill analysis, not even Trita Parsi who claimed in his latest book that fraud occurred without putting forth credible evidence to support his contention.)

-This writer's comments on Tehran Bureau's site at one point appeared to be being censored based purely on perspective and not violations of PBS commenting rules and guidelines. It required a formal letter to a producer of PBS Frontline to remedy the situation.

It now appears "Tehran Bureau" will have some sort of column at the Guardian. Obviously the Guardian's standards of journalism are below that of PBS Frontline. But perhaps the new venue will serve to improve Tehran Bureau into a fair and balanced news effort. While this writer is highly skeptical this will ever be the case, we wish them good luck in achieving such should they choose to pursue such a standard of journalism.

Questions and Ramifications Over Neda's Shooting

Frontline's latest documentary A Death in Tehran and its related web site revisit the tragic shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan, which took place during a protest last June following Iran's disputed presidential election. Readers are encouraged to view the documentary, made in association with Tehran Bureau, here.

From a law enforcement perspective, the PBS documentary provides intriguing details on Neda's shooting by an eyewitness, Arash Hejazi, a trained medical doctor who was at Neda's side when she perished.

Hejazi states that he heard a single shot coming from "in front", but did not see the shooter. He then states that a crowd had put a suspect under citizens arrest, and that the suspect admitted to the killing but stated it was not his intent to do so. The suspect is frisked and his Basij ID discovered. At this point the crowd deliberates on what to do. According to the eyewitness account, the crowd has no confidence in the police and feels itself threatened by turning him in to the authorities, so they release the suspect.

Basij ID card of shooting suspect

Hejazi's account raises questions. When the suspect was apprehended, what happened to the firearm? A single shot was heard fired in the incident. Did the crowd that apprehended him risk their lives to disarm him? Why didn't the suspect fire at those attempting to subdue him? Had the suspect actually run out of ammunition? Presumably it may have been a handgun fired at not too far a distance, but an approximation of relative distance would be helpful. Again, what happened to the firearm?

Another question is why a Basidji would be operating as such alone in a crowd. Usually you see Basidji operating in small teams. Where were the suspect's team members? Had he become separated, or had his team members abandoned him? Perhaps, as the suspect is reputed to have stated, it's possible this was an accidental discharge.

Taken at face value, that the shooter was indeed this identified Basidji, the incident really exposes the unprofessional nature of the Basij as an instrument of urban riot control, as well as the detrimental effect this can have on the reputation of the Iranian government. Severely undertrained and ill disciplined Basidjis operating alone in a high risk environment is a sure fire recipe for disaster. It would be interesting to confirm that changes have been made by the IRGC and IRIPF, as well as policy related to the distribution of lethal rounds, for subsequent Iranian law enforcement efforts at anti-riot control since the June demonstrations.

Note: I've queried Arash Hejazi by email for additional info on his eyewitness account, and will be updating this post with any forthcoming response.