Iranian daily criticizes President Raisi’s wife over ‘futile’ festivals

The criticism by the Farhikhtegan daily on Monday came after Alamolhoda hosted the 1st International Khorsheed Media Festival, which was inaugurated on Saturday in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, following a similar event tilted the 1st International Congress on Women of Influence held earlier this year in January, with the aim of sprucing up the Iranian and Muslim women’s image in the world.

The daily noted the Iranian president’s wife organized the events as United Nations member states voted in December last year to oust Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), an intergovernmental body tasked with protecting women’s rights and promoting gender equality.

The daily blamed Iran’s “passive stance” for the removal, writing inviting some CSW members to the event could help flash a better image of Iran’s stance on women’s issues.

It asked Alamolhoda, who is also the daughter of influential cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda, to elucidate the achievements of recently-wrapped up Khorsheed Media Festival, which hosted over 100 foreign media activists and journalists from 45 countries as well as 120 domestic reporters.

“Now that the government and ruling system have come to the conclusion that they need to change the distorted image of Iran in the international media and are pursuing various international cooperation, is this image not supposed to be shown to the women inside in Iran, so they won’t imagine that it was just a gathering for giving awards and appreciating women only in name?” the daily asked.