‘Python-Gate’: Raisi Administration’s New Embarrassment
Maryam Sinaiee
Iran International
A university professor’s uninformed claim that the Python software program can 'predict the future' has caused new embarrassment for the government in Iran.
Iran International
A university professor’s uninformed claim that the Python software program can 'predict the future' has caused new embarrassment for the government in Iran.
A one-minute video emerged Wednesday of a March 28 meeting between President Ebrahim Raisi and academics allegedly in the “top one percent of world scientists” during which one of the participants makes hugely uninformed remarks while the president listens with interest and takes notes.
The meeting was apparently organized by the ministry of science, research and technology and over 100 of the “top one percent [Iranian] scientists” attended.
University professor, Davood Domiri-Ganji, suggests to the president that the “Python universal software” and “Python global network” could be used to predict the future in the fields of medicine, military, and economic developments such as the growth of inflation “in the next four years”.
The mistake does not appear to be a slip of the tongue as Domiri mentions it several times and even claims that there is artificial intelligence “inside” the human body.
Domiri-Ganji’s major gaffe, apparently mistaking the Python computer programming language for artificial intelligence, has caused an uproar in the media and social media, even pushing the word Python to the top of Persian language hashtags on Twitter.
“These vulgar remarks angered many because everyone knows that Python is a simple programming language … but not everyone knows what inflation is or what shapes the rate of foreign currency exchange,” Sadegh Alhosseini, a prominent economist, said in a tweet while warning about the consequences of giving such uninformed individuals a role in policymaking.
Domiri-Ganji, is a mechanical engineer, a former head of Amol University of Special Modern Technologies and the National Elites Foundation of Amol. He is currently a professor and research deputy at Babol’s Noshirvani University. According to Iranian media, Domiri-Ganji has close ties with the hardliner political establishment and media. According to his Google Scholar page, he has published dozens of scientific articles.
The issue is not just the uninformed suggestion of the said professor, former Iran newspaper journalist Ehsan Bodaghi who dubbed the incident as “Python-Gate” said on Twitter. “Even worse is the fact that there wasn’t even one person among all those ‘top one percent of world scientists’ to know what Phyton is and to point out that it was nonsense.”
Bodaghi has also pointed out that this incident and other cases when hardliners have made hugely uniformed remarks, or carried out scientifically baseless projects with government money, are the result of involving ideology and politics in technical and scientific matters. “The outcome is the circumstances we are witnessing now,” he wrote.
One of the cases that Bodaghi and many others have mentioned is the claim of invention of Corona virus detector in early 2020 by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). The machine which was presented to the public by the IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami in April 2020 at a televised ceremony appeared to be only a fake bomb detection device that was first sold by James McCormick, a British fraudster, to Iraqi security forces.
“There are still many honorable, knowledgeable, patriotic and ethical individuals in Iranian universities but in a symbolic manner, Python-Gate is indicative of the decline that has overtaken universities,” said Mohammad Fazeli, a former professor of sociology at Shahid Beheshti University who was expelled for political reasons in a tweet Wednesday.
“No-one knows of this decline and is aware of the procedures leading to its existence better than academics themselves,” he added. Coining the word “Pythonism” to refer to uninformed and pseudoscientific theories that are put to action by the authorities, Fazeli warned that such theories are gaining traction and forming the basis of policymaking in Iran.
Python-Gate has also sparked a host of jokes on social media. “One should use Python to look at the next four years to see if these mullahs are going to be gone by then or not,” one tweeter wrote.
The activist account 1500 Tasvir, which runs popular Instagram and Twitter accounts, started uploading the documents on Wednesday.
The account also published a large batch of harrowing photos and videos of people shot or killed by the regime late in March, saying that such documentation must remain forever in the country’s history.
The cause of death for hundreds of people who died during the protests of "Women, Life, Liberty” movement is stated as "unknown", and the death certificates of dozens of others attested the use of "live fire and bullets" as the cause of death.
Other causes of death mentioned in the certificates are ruptures of veins or blood vessels, crushing of the skull, hemorrhagic shock (loss of a large volume of blood), and severe tissue damage, all of which point to injuries caused by the security forces’ bullets and batons.
In several cases, the words live fire or bullet are intentionally avoided and replaced by alternative terms such as "accelerated metal projectile" or “metal object."
There are several cases in which the cause of death is declared as “unknown” despite testimonies by eyewitnesses who were present at the scene and directly testified otherwise. These include the cases of Mehrshad Shahidinejad and Sina Malayeri, two protesters who were beaten to death by batons during rallies in the city of Arak according to eyewitnesses.
In one of the certificates published by 1500tasvir, the cause of the death of Behnam Layeghpour was declared as “violence by other protesters” despite his family's account of the incident. Layeghpour was reportedly shot two times in his throat and chest from close range in October as his fiancée was watching. A security agent stood over him and prevented people from helping him at gunpoint.
Human rights sources have reported the death of over 500 protesters, including about 70 children, during nationwide protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of hijab police in September 2022.
There are no official reports about the number of casualties but several rights groups, such as the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), have put the death toll at way more than 500.
In addition to the people who were killed during the regime’s crackdown on street protests, the Islamic Republic has also stepped up its executions in the past several months.
Iran Human Rights organization and the ECPM (Ensemble contre la peine de mort or Together Against the Death Penalty) released on Thursday their latest annual report on the death penalty in Iran, revealing that 2022 had the highest annual number of executions since 2015. At least 582 people were executed, an increase of 75 percent compared to 2021.
The report said that in 2022, the Islamic Republic’s authorities “demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instil societal fear in order to hold onto power,” adding that 88 percent of all executions (511), were not announced by the regime.
According to the report, at least 15 people, among them two protesters, were executed for security-related charges. It also claimed that hundreds of protesters were facing show trials at the Revolutionary Courts, many with charges punishable by death.
In a statement published Thursday, well-known lawyers and filmmakers said that the attacks since November had affected about 13,000 Iranian schoolgirls by March 21, adding that human rights activists should raise awareness about the issue so that international judicial institutions put it on their agenda.
Prominent lawyers Ramezan Hajimashhadi, Giti Pourfazel, Saeed Dehghan, Mehrangiz Kar and Nasrin Sotoudeh as well as award-winning director Jafar Panahi and actress Katayoun Riahi were among the signatories of the statement.
Pointing out that while government security forces were efficient in identifying and arresting protesters, they have shown negligence in pursuing the perpetrators of the chemical attacks, which indicates that they are in line with the regime’s agenda.
Attacking schools is "a kind of threat and revenge against young girls and teenagers who have been striving to end the compulsory hijab through the 'Women, Life, Freedom’ movement.”
Close to 300 schools were targeted in the past Iranian year ending on March 20 without any apparent effort by the government to seriously pursue the perpetrators or explain to terrified parents and students what was happening in so many schools.
Thousands of students have been affected, mostly girls, with hundreds more hospitalized with symptoms including respiratory distress, numbness in their limbs, heart palpitations, headaches, nausea, and vomiting.
While there was lull in attacks as schools closed for the Nowruz holidays, fresh incidents took place this week as students returned to classrooms.
The signatories also referred to the death of a Kurdish teenager who was hospitalized following one such attack, saying that despite the continuation of these chemical attacks, international institutions have not yet taken effective and deterrent actions.
Amid intensified measures to enforce hijab laws, Iran's regime is facing fresh protests over a renewed wave of chemical attacks on schoolgirls and economic woes.
The attacks coincided with the funeral of a Kurdish child from the city of Kamyaran who was laid to rest in Pashavah village in Kordestan province. The 16-year-old boy, Karo Pashabadi, had been taken to hospital for treatment on March 15 after inhaling poisonous gas after a chemical attack on a school in Tehran, where he was living. At least one other child, 11-year-old Fatemeh Razaei, has died in the attacks which began on November 30 and have taken place in hundreds of schools nationwide.
Ordinary Iranians have been suspicious of the involvement of the regime itself, or religious extremists protected by the regime, calling the attacks “state terrorism,” although the regime has denied responsibility and even staged arrests of suspects after widespread protests. Popular belief is that such large-scale and coordinated attacks cannot happen without the green light of regime authorities.
Moineddin Saeedi, a member of the Iranian Parliament from Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchistan Province, criticized a police move to use traffic cameras to identify women removing hijab. He said, "If these cameras can detect crimes to such an extent, why are we currently facing the poisoning of girls?"