Ettela’at Newspaper Criticizes Prison Sentence for Zeynab Mousavi for Insulting Ferdowsi / Shamloo also Spoke Against Ferdowsi Because He Lacked the Knowledge

According to KhabarOnline, Seyyed Masoud Razavi wrote in Ettela’at newspaper: The Judiciary’s news agency announced that “Zeynab Mousavi has been sentenced to 6 months of discretionary imprisonment and the preparation of a dissertation under the supervision of the Ferdowsi Foundation for joking about Abul-Qasem Ferdowsi.”

This is not all: “The accused is obliged, under the supervision of the Ferdowsi Foundation and with the guidance of a professor approved by this foundation, to prepare and defend an mandatory dissertation over six months on topics such as Ferdowsi’s place in Iran’s national identity and culture, the importance of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh in Persian culture and literature, and so on.” The ruling further states: “The accused is obliged to conduct at least 120 hours of storytelling sessions, using the capacities of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, in schools or underprivileged cultural centers (i.e., poor areas), in coordination with the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults and the Ministry of Education, and to submit the documentation to the enforcement authorities.”

The author, who has been working in this profession for some thirty to forty years, reading news, reports, and analyses, is unable to comprehend some matters, such as the wisdom of such judicial rulings. I myself was among those who reacted to the insulting treatment of Ferdowsi and wrote a kind reminder to the lady in a note. Newspapers and social networks also responded, and even some prominent professors said what needed to be said. Everyone knew that: “Assessing the sun is not the work of a moth.”

Whether Ms. Zeynab Mousavi understood or not is her own business, but criminalizing this issue could be the beginning of an inappropriate precedent in the dealings and unnecessary interventions of respected judges. What is the necessity of creating more sensitivity in a matter that has no sanctity, is not considered a criminal offense by law, has no private plaintiff, and which people can traditionally, rationally, literarily, and socially protect and defend? Why place such a burden on the government, country, judiciary, jurisprudence, law, and legislation? Haven’t there been numerous complaints about the proliferation of laws, the increase in cases, and the high number of prisoners?!