Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour which was aired on Wednesday night.
When the anchor referred to CNN’s report that claims some Iranian women were tortured and raped under arrest, the Iranian minister said that “there have been so many such baseless claims made in social media and the media,” he stressed, adding, “We have seen some of CNN’s reports that are biased and false.”
He also noted that “no one was arrested in peaceful demonstrations,” adding, “however, in those protests that had turned violent, some individuals who had come from outside the country and were using firearms and killing the police were arrested.”
The remarks come as on November 21, 2022, CNN published a detailed report on Iran’s security forces “using rape to quell protests.”
The lead protagonist of the whimsical story was 20-year-old Armita Abbasi. She was arrested in mid-October during the foreign-backed riots in Iran, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, for her role in instigating violence against security forces.
The CNN report, based on unnamed ghostly “sources” and social media “leaks,” took the distasteful propaganda to the next level. Citing unconfirmed “leaks” from the hospital where Abbasi was treated, the report claimed that “her head had been shaved” and the medical staff was horrified to see “evidence of brutal rape.”
Many media outlets in the West cited the CNN report to push the narrative that women’s rights are not respected in the Islamic Republic and that rape is used as a weapon to oppress women.
Despite Iranian media convincingly rejecting the claims in the CNN report, and presenting irrefutable facts about the case, the propaganda mills in the West remained ablaze.
MNA/PressTV
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