Iran plans to sue Hollywood production companies over what it considered anti-Iranian films, after it had criticized the Award winning film, Argo, which talks about six US diplomats who tried to escape from Iran...
Iran plans to sue Hollywood production companies over what it considered anti-Iranian films, after it had criticized the award winning film, Argo, which talks about six US diplomats who tried to escape from Iran after the Islamic Revolution.
A French lawyer hired by the Islamic Republic to make the case, told AFP on Wednesday that Iran “was seeking legal ways to stop the production of anti-Iranian movies".
Isabelle Coutant-Peyre stated that “our case is one of defamation and attacks against honor and reputation of Iran and its people,” naming a series of anti-Iranian movies produced in Hollywood.
Iran had previously criticized the "Argo" as a pro-CIA propaganda film, while assailing the 85th Academy Awards as "the most political Oscars ever" for awarding its top honor to the movie.
Coutant-Peyre said Argo should be condemned for its "falsification of history" as "it is supposedly based on a declassified story."
"We have moved from the slogan of 'Muslim equals terrorist' to that of
'Iranian equals terrorist'," she added, stressing that “any trial would allow a contradictory debate to establish the truth so that public opinion has more than just one side of the story.”
The lawyer pointed out that the Islamic Republic "does not want Argo to be banned but it wants a statement saying that the facts recounted in the movie do not correspond to reality.”
In this context, Head of Iran’s Basij Organization, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi considered in a statement on Wednesday that the latest film festivals such as “Oscars” had been an obvious device for denouncing Iran and Islam.
“We should positively use the people’s participation in this festival to defend our values,” Mehr news agency further quoted Naqdi as saying, as he highlighted Hollywood and Oscars Academy’s allegiance to the US Administration.
Referring to the announcement of “Argo” as a winner by US First Lady, Naqdi sarcastically said “Mrs. Obama should be awarded for her unwanted role in exposing Hollywood and Oscars Academy’s allegiance to the US administration, and improving global awareness to this fact, and the fact that Oscars has no artistic values.”
The Iranian official indicated that “if we had spent billions of dollars, we could not have shown a link and allegiance between Hollywood and the US government and the White House, especially since they have always denied the allegations, and posed as an independent.”
