Iran Focus
London, Oct. 25 – An Iranian opposition satellite channel, based abroad, has produced a new comedy clip mocking Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The comedy skit, produced by Simay-e Azadi (www.iranntv.com), was aired into Iran to coincide with a key visit by Khamenei to the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, to win the support of high-ranking clerics for the hard-line government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Khamenei has increasingly come under fire from senior members of the religious theocracy for giving unwavering support to Ahmadinejad despite his government’s confrontational international policies, including over the nuclear program, which have led to UN Security Council sanctions.
Simay-e Azadi, which has produced a series of similar comic skits, reportedly has a wide following in Iran.
This and other comedy clips by the Iranian opposition have infuriated the authorities and proved very popular in Iran. One of the clips has had 1.2 million hits on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClzgWqyFMMQ).
Last November, the semi-official news agency ISNA quoted, Ali Darabi, Deputy Director of the State-run TV and Radio, as saying, “40 percent of Iranians are now tuning in to watch satellite TV channels… The rate of satellite viewership in this society is extremely troubling”.
Darabi accused media outlets such as Simay-e Azadi of penetrating Iranian households and causing “family break ups”.
{qtube vid:= I1iKi3PJBL0}
