By Davood Zaboli, 13 December 2013

In March of this year I had a short conversation with Javad Zarif over Facebook. Our interaction was brief, but our conversation displays the hypocrisy and empty charm that has become typical of Zarif and Rouhani.

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Iran has a long and documented history of censorship. So I was hardly surprised when earlier this week Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, the Secretary of the Work Group to Determine Instances of Criminal Content on the Internet, called Facebook “an espionage website” and a threat to “national security”.

What I do find surprising is the sheer hypocrisy of this regime and its officials who simultaneously condemn social media, while using it to promote their own propaganda. Not unlike the clergy in Iran who spend hours preaching virtue and morality, while committing the most heinous crimes behind closed doors.

In March of this year I happened to come across the Facebook profile of Javad Zarif. Not only was I taken aback by the fact that Zarif had a profile, but I was surprised as to how forthcoming Zarif was in his interaction with individuals on the site. Our subsequent interaction was brief, but it demonstrates the hypocritical and nefarious manner in which Zarif and his ilk operate.

After I posted a comment on his wall asking him how he was able to enjoy Facebook access despite an official ban, Zarif sent me a private message and the following conversation took place. (Excuse my poor farsi, and any translation errors)

        Conversation started March 23

        3/23, 10:01pm

        Zarif

            سلام.  در پاسخ به سوال جنابعالي، بنده هم مثل بقيه مردم از فيلترشکن استفاده مي کنم.

        Hello, in response to your question, I use filter circumvention just like everyone else.

I was surprised that Zarif had sent me a personal message, so I decided to take the opportunity to ask him some pointed questions. Given the fact that Zarif has a Doctorate in international law and policy, I decided to ask him about Iran’s abysmal human rights record.

        March 25

        3/25, 3:35pm

        Me

            نظر شما در مورد اعدام کودکان در ایران، با توجه به این که اعدام مجرمین نوجوان تحت قوانین بین المللی غیر قانونی است، از جمله ماده 6 (5) میثاق بین المللی حقوق مدنی و سیاسی (ICCPR) و کنوانسیون حقوق کودک(CRC)

            What do you think about child executions in Iran?  According to international law, the execution of juvenile offenders is illegal, specifically under Article 6 (5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child

March 25

        3/25, 7:51pm

        Zarif

            دوست عزيز سلام  پاسخ سوالتان را خودتان داده ايد.
بنده در زماني که موضوع حقوق بشر هنوز در جامعه سياسي کشور موضوعي غربي و تحميلي محسوب مي شد و تدريس حقوق بشر حتي با استقبال دانشجويان مواجه نبود (يعني از سال 1372)   در دانشکده حقوق دانشگاه تهران و دانشکده روابط بين الملل حقوق بشر تدريس کرده ام.  نظراتم در اين موارد لااقل براي دانشجويانم روشن است.
اما دو سوال شما بيشتر جنبه بازجويي دارد که چندان خوشايند نيست.
شاد و سربلند باشيد.

            Dear Friend, you answered your own question. During the time when human rights were still considered a Western subject that was forced upon by other powers, and the discussion of human rights was not of interest to students in Iran (in 1993), I was teaching in the the Law School of Tehran University and the University of International Relations. My views in this regard are clear to my students. Your two questions seem more like an interrogation, and I don’t appreciate that                                                                                                              

I sent him a follow up question asking where I could find a source for his views, and why he continued to use Facebook if it was banned in the country, but I received no answer.  Our conversation was indeed brief, and its clear that Zarif quickly understood that I was neither his pal nor someone that he could persuade with fluffy rhetoric and kind words.

In fact Zarif had a similar interaction with reporter David Keyes, which he discussed in his piece “Iran’s Foreign Minister Loves Facebook Despite Banning It at Home”. In the article Keyes states:

“Shortly after the U.N. General Assembly last month, in the midst of his New York charm offensive, I asked Javad Zarif if he thought it was ironic that he enjoys posting on Facebook while his government bans the website in Iran. “Ha! Ha!” he laughed heartily. “That’s life.”’

Zarif has since closed the personal facebook account that I had messaged him on, but he continues to post regular updates on the Official Javad Zarif Facebook Page. This policy of bold faced hypocrisy goes right up to the Supreme Leader Khamanei (who also has his own Facebook page) despite a lengthy campaign by Iranian authorities to equate Facebook and social networking sites as a “weapon of the enemy”.

Zarif has continued to use his used-car-salesman tricks to sell his lies to the world, and prolong the life of this dying regime. It comes as no surprise that Zarif has previously had ties with other hypocrites like Trita Parsi who sell the same brand of lies.

What is personally infuriating to me is the sheer brutality Iran has used against bloggers and internet activists over the past years. Including the torture and murder of blogger Sattar Beheshti by Iran’s cyber police, as well as the 2008 execution of blogger Yaghoob Mehrnehad, a social activist from the southeastern province of Sistan Baluchistan.

Not only do the Iranian people have to tolerate egregious violations of human rights, a devastated economy, and widespread censorship, they must also deal with intolerable demagogues like Zarif, who lie through their teeth and will do anything to weasel their way out of the truth.

I hope to speak to Mr. Zarif again someday, perhaps when he is finally brought to answer for the crimes he and his regime have committed against the Iranian people.