Saturday, September 14, 2013

Facebook Page of Iran's FM Got Hacked [+ English Translation of the Hacker(s)' Message]

Javad Zarif's Facebook page which has been making news since he became the Foreign Minister of Iran's new government apparently got hacked today,and whoever hacked it posted:



I am not on facebook, but I got the above screenshot from the Google+ page of a hugely popular Persian facebook page called مملکته؟.

English Translation of the hacked status message:
Quotes from a friend:
One has to tell Mr.Rouhani [Iran's new President and Mr.Zarif's boss] that the grievances surrounding the [Presidential] election of 88 [the rigged election of 2009] were not assuaged by Murdering the young [protesters: Neda, Sohrab, etc.], Verbal Assaults,[long sentences of] prison, Kahrizak [the notorious detention camp where rape and murder of protesters happened in Summer of '09], [vicious attack on the] dormitory of university [of Tehran], Arrest [of leaders of the protests: MirHossein Moussavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi], ... . How dare [Mr.Rouhani] claim our votes [in the presidential election of 2013 in favor of him] assuaged the grievances of the '09 election?
Tell [Mr.Rouhani] that we [the people who voted for him in 2013] did not vote for him to assuage the grievances of the '09. Tell him the person who must assuage these grievances, and has failed to do so, is the [all powerful ruling] system [of the Islamic Republic of Iran, meaning Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei], not the people who voted for you [Mr.Rouhani].
Many Iranians on Facebook commented that the above comment by Javad Zarif was the result of his account being hacked. However, many Iranians also expressed their approval that finally some official of the Islamic Republic was publicly acknowledging the horrible injustice happened to millions of Iranians since 2009. 

At the end of the day, it was a spokesperson of the Iran's Foreign Minster who broke the news per Fars News Agency that Javad Zarif Facebook page been hacked. Mr.Zarif's Facebook page also posted the following:


English Translation: 
Greetings Friends, 
Regrettably my page wa sabused by illegal intruders. If this state persists, I will have to, against my wishes, to discontinue this venue of communications. 
Thanks for your attention, friends.
Facebook and Twitter are both filtered in Iran and considered illegal. So, Mr.Zarif's venture into the "illegal" waters of Facebook and twitter has been highly remarkable not just for the Western media, but also for the oppressed Iranian users of Internet living in Iran. And, I am sure Mr.Zarif is very well-aware of the perils of the social networking. That said, why does he threaten thousands of Iranian users who have "liked" his Facebook page and use it as a place to debate with him and each other re: Foreign Policy of Iran, Crisis in Syria, Nuclear Issue and such?  

Why should Mr.Zarif threaten 1000s of Iranian users of Facebook who want to communicate with him for the action of a few who hacked his page apparently? Is that collateral punishment? Is it fair? 

Even if Mr.Zarif stops using Facebook, for fears of getting hacked again, no harm will happen to 1000s of Iranians who "like" his page, I hope. But, I would like to ask again: Why should Mr.Zarif punishes many Iranian for the actions of a few?
I am not trying to be facetious, but, aren't US sanctions on Iranian government hurting all Iranians including Women, Lesbian, Gay, Biseuxal, and Trans people, Children, Elderly, .... who are living in Iran and have no control over the actions and policies of the government of Iran?

American sanctions hurt ALL Iranians, especially those who are living inside Iran. If Mr.Zarif stops communicating with Iranians via Facebook for actions of a few, then, his thinking resembles those of the mindless policy makers of United States of America, but of a much, much, much  lesser consequence. 

Funny is how Mr.Zarif criticizes US policy makers whenever he has the chance. 

Whatever. I hate Facebook. 





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