A Tehran newspaper that has come under fire over its logo considered immoral by hard-liners has said that it will be changed.
The editor in chief of “Tehran Emrooz,” Rasul Babayi, said earlier this week that the paper will amend the logo “with a sense of sadness” in order to put an end to the controversy that it has caused.
Last month a hard-line weekly “Partoye Sokhan” accused “Tehran Emrooz,” which is reportedly close to Tehran’s mayor and Ahmadinejad rival Mohammad Bagher Qlibaf, of redesigning its logo to make it look like a dancing woman.
The weekly, which is close to the ultra hard-line Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, explained that the letter “r’ in the logo looks like the leg of a dancing woman. It also said that other letters in the logo have been changed to look like arms and a head.
The weekly called on the Culture Ministry to warn the newspaper over its logo.
A few days after the criticism was aired, news websites posted pictures of a banner with the controversial logo that had apparently been torn down.
Meanwhile, critics have used the controversy to poke fun at the rich imaginations of the hard-liners.
Here, for instance, is a caricature where a young man holding the sexy logo is asking his parents why they didn’t knock before entering his room. The mother of the young man is saying to her husband: I think our son is trying to tell us that he wants a woman.
Last week, opposition websites reported that Deputy Culture Minister For Media Affairs Mohammad Ali Ramin had also blasted the logo saying that it represents ballet, considered un-Islamic in Iran, and is evidence of a "soft war."
Iranian officials regularly say that the enemies of the Islamic Republic are engaged in a soft war against the country.
Babayi, the editor in chief of "Tehran Emrooz," has said that the logo was discussed at a meeting with Ramin, who said that, because of the controversy it had generated, it would be better for the newspaper to modify it.
Babayi said that the logo will be changed soon so that the newspaper can continue its work.
The publication of "Tehran Emrooz" was temporarily suspended in 2008 reportedly over articles that criticized Ahmadinejad’s policies.
-- Golnaz Esfandiari
The editor in chief of “Tehran Emrooz,” Rasul Babayi, said earlier this week that the paper will amend the logo “with a sense of sadness” in order to put an end to the controversy that it has caused.
Last month a hard-line weekly “Partoye Sokhan” accused “Tehran Emrooz,” which is reportedly close to Tehran’s mayor and Ahmadinejad rival Mohammad Bagher Qlibaf, of redesigning its logo to make it look like a dancing woman.
The weekly, which is close to the ultra hard-line Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, explained that the letter “r’ in the logo looks like the leg of a dancing woman. It also said that other letters in the logo have been changed to look like arms and a head.
The weekly called on the Culture Ministry to warn the newspaper over its logo.
A few days after the criticism was aired, news websites posted pictures of a banner with the controversial logo that had apparently been torn down.
Meanwhile, critics have used the controversy to poke fun at the rich imaginations of the hard-liners.
Here, for instance, is a caricature where a young man holding the sexy logo is asking his parents why they didn’t knock before entering his room. The mother of the young man is saying to her husband: I think our son is trying to tell us that he wants a woman.
Last week, opposition websites reported that Deputy Culture Minister For Media Affairs Mohammad Ali Ramin had also blasted the logo saying that it represents ballet, considered un-Islamic in Iran, and is evidence of a "soft war."
Iranian officials regularly say that the enemies of the Islamic Republic are engaged in a soft war against the country.
Babayi, the editor in chief of "Tehran Emrooz," has said that the logo was discussed at a meeting with Ramin, who said that, because of the controversy it had generated, it would be better for the newspaper to modify it.
Babayi said that the logo will be changed soon so that the newspaper can continue its work.
The publication of "Tehran Emrooz" was temporarily suspended in 2008 reportedly over articles that criticized Ahmadinejad’s policies.
-- Golnaz Esfandiari