From the Chant Death to America to Naimeh’s Story

Rooz Online

Just a few days after Zahra Eshraqi’s much discussed interview, her sister Naimeh became the center of attention on Facebook and chatter over the comment that she made which spread so rapidly and widely that she had to post an explanation and then close her Facebook account altogether. Naimeh defended herself by claiming that she had not posted that specific story that quoted ayatollah Khomeini, as had been widely reported on Iranian news sites, and that someone had fakely attributed the comments to her. The controversial comment was that ayatollah Khomeini’s family had told her a story about the Iran-Iraq war veterans while Khomeini enjoyed the story and had laughed about it.

Naimeh Eshraqi is the most Facebook savvy member of the family of the founder of the Islamic regime: or maybe she used to be. Because of the controversy, she has decided not to have any Facebook presence for now. Until recently, Naimeh was paid attention because she is the granddaughter of ayatollah Khomeini. She also has recounted stories from her grandfather which presented him in a rather moderate image, something that many welcomed.

But her last story that she related to the ayatollah has resulted in the suspension of her online storytelling. This is what she recounted: “We told another joke to the imam which he always recounted jokingly and it went like this. Oh guards, marry the widows of the martyrs. Oh how I wish I was a guard myself.”

When this story was posted, some Internet users protested its publication. It is said that she responded by removing many of the comments. But when the protests became more serious and spread, she denied having posted some of the comments and claimed someone else had used her online identity to attribute the comments to her. On one earlier occasion, there had been protests about a Photoshoped photograph of her daughter that she has posted but reformists on Facebook widely defended her. This time however, not only were there no defending comments from moderate, they in fact posted protests over Naimeh’s comment, some of which were even harsher than those the conservative principlists had aired. After she removed the comment, moderates said that they had analyzed the story when it was available on line and had no doubts it was hers. One such person is Masih Alizadeh who said he himself had clicked the Comment button, which verified that it was Naimeh’s genuine Facebook site and comments link.

But when the protests came from the offspring of war veterans, Naimeh lost the battle. When readers had posted their objections regarding Naimeh daughter’s photographs, she fired back, “Being the granddaughter of the imam is an honor for me and my family. I hope that God guides you ignorant beings, but if you are incapable of being guided, I hope He destroys and eliminates you.”

This time however, rather than defending or attacking, she simply posted an open note announcing the end of her Facebook activities and presence.

Asieh Bakeri, the daughter of martyr Hamid Bakeri responded to Naimeh’s comments with these words: “The bitterest memories of my childhood belong to my mother’s tears because of the way people looked at a widow, the rumors about her and ultimately the remarks that were like salt on wound. Please do not do it, do not remind us of our bitter memories.”

Journalist Mehdi Afshar is the son of a martyr and a Facebook user who reacted to Naimeh’s comment. Yet another person to protest was Mostafa Hemat, the son of a Revolutionary Guard martyr. He forced Naimeh to formally apologize for her Facebook story and remarks. “What comes to mind with her ugly remarks is that at a time when the children of this country were at the war fronts and were bombarded with bombs and mortar fire, the leader on whose orders the youth had gone to the war fronts was making dirty jokes about them. Is such an act not undermining the personality and thoughts of the imam? Does she not realize how undermining such remarks are? Whether what is recounting is true or not, she needs to be stopped from such occasional comments.”