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Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Iranian mullahs freak over - newspaper logo?

This is the logo of the Tehran Emrooz newspaper, and it is causing a controversy in Iran.

Mohammed Ali Ramin, Associate Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said in a statement that this logo represents a "soft war" against the regime.

Ever since the riots that followed the rigged elections, the Iranians have been especially sensitive to any perceived uprising or signs of discontent. This logo represents just such an attitude, according to Ramin.

He brought a full-size version of it to the Iranian parliament and said that he has repeatedly asked the newspaper to change their logo, without result.

According to Ramin, the logo is meant suggest a woman dancing ballet and is therefore a manifestation of a quiet protest on the part of the paper.

For the second half of 2008, the newspaper was banned altogether by the government.