Early on the morning of April 11th the BBC News website published an article by Lyse Doucet titled “Historic Vance-Ghalibaf talks must bridge deep distrust”.
Despite citing his name in the headline and using his photograph as the main illustration, that report had nothing to tell BBC audiences about the man leading the Iranian delegation to the talks with the US which would take place later that day in Islamabad.
A BBC News website live page that was opened on the same day to cover “peace talks in Pakistan” did however include an entry titled “Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf leads Iranian delegation, who is he?”.
Remarkably, Ghoncheh Habibiazad did not inform BBC audiences that the activity on Ghalibaf’s X account is mostly conducted in the English language. That – along with the fact that the account has remained active despite the Iranian regime’s imposition of an internet blackout – has been explained by analysts and journalists as likely being the result of the account being operated outside Iran – from the United States.
“Yet, throughout the 39-day war, written messages on Telegram and specific tweets with a distinct tone appeared daily on his “X” account. These tweets, sometimes in English and sometimes peppered with emojis or Gen Z “memes,” addressed the American public directly, warning of economic fallout and risks to American soldiers.”
Another notable aspect of Habibiazad’s brief biography of Ghalibaf is the vague reference to “financial impropriety” which fails to fully inform BBC audiences about the scale of the allegations of corruption – not only during his time as mayor of Tehran – that UANI describes as follows:
“Ghalibaf’s tenure as mayor between 2005 and 2017 has been linked to a series of scandals and corruption. One of the most prominent cases was the municipality selling massive properties to several officials in the affluent northern Tehran at a heavy discount. A parliamentary investigation into the matter was eventually shelved. A former council member accused that the wives of Ghalibaf and former IRGC Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani were involved in corruption. In 2021, Ghalibaf’s former deputy at the municipality, Issa Sharifi, was sentenced to 30 years by a military court for involvement in multi-billion-dollar corruption related to Yas Holding, a now-defunct subsidiary of the IRGC Cooperative Foundation, an entity tasked with managing the paramilitary’s vast financial interests. […]
Ghalibaf’s tenure as speaker has been marred by sustained corruption scandals. In 2022, he faced a number of accusations. Most notably, accusations of involvement in the 2017 embezzlement scheme at Yas Holdings continued to mar his reputation. According to a leaked audio recording, he was involved in efforts to cover up the scandal using his regime connections. He was also accused of purchasing apartments in Turkey through his family and bringing luxury goods into Iran from the country.”
Notably, Habibiazad does not mention Ghalibaf’s time as commander of the IRGC Air Force or his subsequent appointment as chief of police – the Law Enforcement Force. His role in suppressing protests both before and after that appointment goes completely unmentioned.
“As protests were re-ignited in 2003, Ghalibaf was integral in directing the regime’s brutal repressive action in his role commanding the LEF. A tape later emerged of Ghalibaf bragging to members of the Basij about how he ordered police to fire at student demonstrators. During this period, he also ordered the arrest of countless journalists, authors, and activists.”
BBC audiences are also not told about Ghalibaf’s meetings with Hamas and PIJ leaders over the years.
An entry on a live page may certainly not have been the most appropriate platform for in-depth reporting about the man leading the Iranian delegation to the talks with the US (who had already been widely quoted in additional BBC reporting) but that is what was offered to the BBC’s English-speaking audiences.
Remarkably though, some of the BBC’s worldwide audiences were provided with more comprehensive reporting:
“Ghalibaf continued to rise through the ranks after the war and in 1997 became commander of the IRGC’s Air Force.
In July 1999, the Islamic Republic of Iran was rocked by student protests, sparked by the closure of a reformist newspaper. The movement was violently suppressed, resulting in several deaths, and it is believed that he personally participated in the repression.
“Now there’s a picture of me on a 1000cc motorbike holding a stick… Wherever it’s necessary to go out into the streets and use a stick, we’re among those who do it. And we’re proud of that,” he is heard saying in a leaked audio file. […]
However, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s reputation took a hit after the 2016 “low-priced properties” scandal, in which the city council was accused of selling hundreds of properties to officials and security agencies at steep discounts, up to 50 percent below market value.
A few months before he left office, the 17-story Plasco building, one of the first tall buildings in Iran, collapsed after a fire, killing at least 20 firefighters. The accident exposed systemic negligence within the city government under his leadership.”
If BBC Swahili, BBC Turkish, BBC Indonesia and BBC Hausa could provide a more informative profile of Ghalibaf – in some cases two weeks before the talks in Islamabad – then the corporation’s English-language services should surely have been able to follow suit.
