Ali Mojtahedzadeh, a lawyer in Iran said Friday that a group of reporters are suing Kianoush Jahanpour, the spokesman of the health ministry, for insulting critics by using a Persian word that can be roughly translated as “jerk” or “jackass”.
Jahanpour in a tweet used the insult describing those who questioned the high price of a Covid-19 vaccine developed in Iran. The remark immediately was picked up by social media users and hundreds of people began attacking the health ministry official. But Jahanpour did not apologize and claimed that by developing a local vaccine the health ministry has upset “vaccine importers’ mafia”.
Mojtabahzadeh told the Iranian Labour News Agency Friday that plaintiffs will lodge a complaint with the special media court next week. He added that if Jahanpout thinks there is a vaccine mafia in the country, he should have reported it to authorities and if he did not, he broke the law.
The government has so far failed in its vaccination program, by not acting to import sufficient doses. A little over one percent of Iranians have been fully vaccinated, while many countries in the region are far advanced in the vaccination programs. An Iranian vaccine that has been rushed through approval is said to cost at least double the price of Western vaccines.
Source » iranintl