Iranian mayor apologizes for poster in Shiraz with picture of Israeli forces
The mayor of an Iranian city on Thursday apologized to his people for the unintentional use of a picture of Israeli soldiers on a billboard that was erected marking the Iran-Iraq war, a remembrance day called “Sacred Defense Week.”
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The mayor of an Iranian city on Thursday apologized to his people for the unintentional use of a picture of Israeli soldiers on a billboard that was erected marking the Iran-Iraq war, a remembrance day called “Sacred Defense Week.”
Local authorities hung the billboard on Saturday in Namazi Square in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz with a quote from a poet commemorating “martyrs” of the country’s eight-year conflict with Iraq beginning in 1980.
The poster read “They stare at me, still glorious; I see their shadow on the mountain.”
A few days later, murmurs on the origin of the picture started to spread among locals, which eventually was confirmed to depict three men in Israeli military uniforms carrying M-16s. The billboard purportedly caused an uproar among Iranian social media users, and the poster was taken down as pictures went viral on social media and sparked outrage.
The photo was edited to remove the female soldier from the original picture.
Upon learning about the incident, the Islamic City Council of Shiraz, a body with the power to elect or dismiss a mayor, promptly issued a statement condemning the matter and calling for an immediate investigation into the incident, according to Tasnim, a semi-official Iranian media outlet.
Shiraz’s Mayor, Haider Askenderpour, in a letter directed to the Chairman of the Cultural, Social, and Sports Organization of the Municipality of the city, Ibrahim Goshtasbirad, reiterated the call for a careful study of the mishap.
Askenderpour, after “begging for forgiveness” from the people of the city, demanded the same of Goshtasbirad and called for “serious action” toward those who produced the poster.
According to Jerusalem Post, Shiraz once had a bustling Jewish community estimated at around 20,000 people. Iranian security forces on occasion have harassed individuals in the city’s Jewish community and in the year 2000, put 13 men, among them a rabbi, on trial on charges of spying. Ten were convicted.
Editing by Nadia Riva