Whitewashing by Creating the Term ‘Victim-Making’
From the perspective of conservative media, their political figures, and state TV, only the deaths of Basij members and law enforcement officers in recent protests are considered real, newsworthy, and deserving of the title ‘martyr’. Anything else is suspicious and is labeled not as a martyr or a victim but as ‘victim-making’. The term was first used during the 2009 protests by those in power to deny and reject any deaths caused by military or law enforcement shootings in the streets.
They believed that the news about the deceased was fake, or if true, there was a scenario behind it which they called ‘victim-making’. ‘Victim-making’ became their key term to evade responsibility for their actions and to whitewash the law enforcement or plainclothes officers. This claim of ‘victim-making’ has especially been highlighted in the recent cases of Nika Shahkarami and Sarina Esmailzadeh.
The judiciary and law enforcement insist it was suicide, but the families say otherwise, and the public, based on the published evidence, holds a different belief.
From Empty Hands to Calls for Action
The ruling media, who believe all news about the deceased is just a ‘victim-making’ scenario, are so lacking in evidence that they refer to the old cases of Taraneh Mousavi or Saeedeh Pour-Aghaei, which were targeted security scenarios, or they point to some films and photos circulated on social media that supposedly don’t match reality, to conclude that all the deceased in recent protests were part of a scenario.
Clinging to the trend of ‘fake news’, which is a common occurrence in social media, alongside mentioning one or two security projects, aims to trivialize and question the actual events and incidents that have occurred.
The newspaper Javan has taken a step further, demanding legal action against those who claimed someone was killed in these protests. Now, the liars who fabricated and spread lies without accountability and told stories about the deaths need to be held accountable before the law.
If in past seditions someone was held accountable for fabrications and ‘victim-making’ before the law, perhaps this repetitive game wouldn’t have happened so easily. It’s not too late; the initiators and fabricators of ‘victim-making’ without accountability should be dealt with using the law.
A Scenario for a Scenario
Meanwhile, the images and videos published from the nationwide protests and the attacks by law enforcement and paramilitary forces on protesters, along with the news of protester deaths, are so clear and revealing that they neutralize any explanation or storytelling.
Nevertheless, the ‘victim-making’ scenario is still pursued by revolutionary media. In one of these scenarios, it is written that the People’s Mojahedin, anti-revolutionaries, and separatist terrorist groups have infiltrated among the protesters and plan to execute the ‘victim-making’ scenario among the protesting people and stationed security forces at an opportune moment.
The article continues: Their scenario is that a five-member armed team secretly attends the protest crowd, positions around, and at the right moment, shoots at protesters or ordinary people watching, killing individuals while shouting that security forces fired. The next step is to shoot from among the protesters towards the security forces and police, killing or injuring individuals.
It is also recommended that families whose children knowingly or unknowingly participate in protests and riots should know that in this sensitive situation, enemies of Iran and Iranians are pursuing the ‘victim-making’ scenario against the people and security forces. Therefore, a serious warning is given to families, to parents, to prevent their children from participating in illegal protests and riots to avoid becoming victims of the ‘victim-making’ scenario of enemies and mercenaries.
Evidence Says Otherwise
Vahid Ashtari, a media activist advocating for justice, who is currently a critic and protester of current policies, claimed in a tweet that he personally investigated and spoke with neighbors, concluding that Nika Shahkarami committed suicide. However, his explanations did not convince Twitter users, and the questions raised under the same tweet show that the ambiguities regarding the cause of her death being suicide, given the existing evidence, are significant.
For instance, if her ID or phone was with her, why did no one contact her family? Interestingly, Ashtari later reported in another tweet that security agencies had told local shopkeepers and residents why they allowed him into the mentioned building or talked to him and gave him information.
The questions and disbelief in what they call a ‘victim-making’ scenario increase, especially since, besides Nika, it is now claimed that Sarina also committed suicide. But the situation becomes more interesting when it turns out that the woman who appeared on camera as Sarina Esmailzadeh’s mother, claiming her daughter committed suicide, is not Sarina’s mother. Users have published images of Sarina and her mother from Sarina’s Instagram page, showing no resemblance to the woman who posed as Sarina’s mother on camera.
Statements on Victim-Making
In these times, we saw individuals who intended to engage in ‘victim-making’ present at incidents, and this is the enemy’s strategy. Seventeen people carrying weapons were arrested in the riots, intending to cause chaos and disrupt order and security so that the ‘victim-making’ project and riots would continue.
According to reliable information, opposition groups are seeking ‘victim-making’ using firearms, and in this regard, the people need to be fully alert. The deaths of three people in illegal gatherings in the Kurdistan province are suspicious.
In recent days, some antagonistic media streams have tried to attribute Nika Shakarami’s death to law enforcement and security officers. Speculation continues on social media about whether Nika Shakarami died from a fall or was deliberately killed by a group.
Watch the full video of Nika Shakarami, a 17-year-old girl who became a victim of the ‘victim-making’ project by rioters, which has been published on Instagram. The ‘victim-making’ project and the destruction of public property for sinister political exploitation is the main plot and conspiracy of the enemies of the revolution to create unrest and riots in various parts of the country.