On Monday, February 2, Mizan News Agency, the official outlet of Iran’s judiciary, reported that the Tehran Prosecutor has brought charges against the director, production team, and host of a program aired on Ofogh TV. A case has been opened, and those involved have been summoned to face prosecution.
Ofogh TV is not an ordinary television channel. It is closely linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is known for broadcasting hardline ideological content. The judiciary’s move to take action against its own insiders is rare and is usually aimed at containing public anger when a state-aligned figure is perceived to have crossed a line and threatened social stability.
The move follows the widespread circulation of a video clip from a program titled Khat-Khati (“Scribbles”), which aired on Sunday. In the clip, the host mocked the killing of protesters during the January demonstrations.
With a mocking smile, the host posed a rhetorical question about the whereabouts of the protesters’ bodies: “In what kind of refrigerator does the Islamic Republic keep the corpses?” He then offered several multiple-choice options, ridiculing families searching for their loved ones.
Mizan News Agency added that “an investigation into potential ulterior motives behind the production and broadcast of this offensive program is on the agenda of the relevant judicial authorities.”
Hours after the video triggered widespread outrage, the Public Relations Office of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) announced that Sadegh Yazdani, the director of Ofogh TV, had been dismissed for “insulting the martyrs and those killed in the January events,” as well as for “managerial negligence.” The program was subsequently taken off air.
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