Decade heading state broadcaster IRIB: the 'Hoviyat' broadcasts, forced confessions and Parliament's financial probe
Appointed by Ali Khamenei (@khamenei_fa), Ali Larijani led state broadcaster IRIB from 1994 to 2004. Outlets reported that IRIB aired intelligence-backed programs like 'Hoviyat' targeting writers, edited Berlin Conference clips and prisoner confessions, while the Sixth Parliament reported financial irregularities. He defended 'Hoviyat' then, dismissed the audit and in 2021 called it a mistake.
Editorial timeline of public reporting, not a legal finding.
- IRIB airs 'Hoviyat' targeting writers and intellectuals in cooperation with the Intelligence Ministry - BBC Persian, Radio Farda and PBS Frontline reported that in autumn 1996 IRIB's Channel 1, under Larijani, aired 'Hoviyat' ('Identity'), a multi-part program produced with the Intelligence Ministry and Kayhan that labeled writers and intellectuals such as Ahmad Shamlou, Houshang Golshiri and Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub agents of 'cultural invasion' and broadcast prisoner confessions. Former IRIB deputy Ahmad Pournejati later said intelligence official Saeed Emami proposed the project in a meeting with Larijani, who overruled Pournejati's objection and said the tape was 'approved'. In a November 1996 interview with Sobh weekly, Larijani defended the broadcasts. 'تهیه شده در نهاد‌های اطلاعاتی'، پخش از صدا و سیما
- Broadcast of edited Berlin Conference footage followed by arrests and trials of participants - Radio Farda, BBC Persian and PBS Frontline reported that in April 2000 IRIB under Larijani aired a 30-minute edited compilation of the Berlin Conference on two consecutive nights, juxtaposing protesters disrupting the event with speeches by Iranian reformists and intellectuals. PBS Frontline reported that the broadcast served as the basis for arresting and prosecuting participants upon their return to Iran, including journalist Akbar Ganji, cleric Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari and student activist Ali Afshari, whose coerced confession was later aired. بررسی گوشه‌های تاریک و مبهم رویداد‌های کنفرانس برلین در پنجمین سال رخداد آن
- Initial refusal of the Sixth Parliament's IRIB probe until the Supreme Leader grants permission - Factnameh and the Tehran Times reported that after the reformist Sixth Parliament voted to investigate IRIB, the broadcaster under Larijani initially refused to cooperate, citing a Guardian Council ruling that bodies under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (@khamenei_fa) were exempt from parliamentary probes. After Speaker Mehdi Karroubi wrote to Khamenei invoking Article 76 of the Constitution, Khamenei authorized the inquiry in June 2001 and Larijani wrote that IRIB welcomed the investigation. مجلس ایران و محدودیت‌های تحقیق و تفحص
- Sixth Parliament reads out probe report alleging major financial irregularities at IRIB - Radio Farda and PBS Frontline reported that on May 7, 2003 the Sixth Parliament's investigative committee read out a 12-chapter report with 2,112 pages of documents in open session alleging widespread financial irregularities at IRIB under Larijani and his finance deputy Ali Kordan, including under-reporting advertising revenues since 1999 and illegally paying 14 billion rials in unspent state funds to businessman Shahram Jazayeri's companies instead of the treasury. PBS Frontline reported that Larijani dismissed the findings as baseless ('kashk') and that the judiciary took no action against him or Kordan. گزارش هیات تحقیق و تفحص مجلس در باره درآمد و هزینه رادیوتلویزیون جمهوری اسلامی
- Larijani claims on Clubhouse that 'Hoviyat' was aired by subordinates without his knowledge - BBC Persian and Radio Farda reported that on May 20, 2021, while campaigning for president, Larijani told a Clubhouse room in response to a BBC Persian journalist that airing 'Hoviyat' had been a mistake, claiming that although he was in charge he had not known about it, that 'subordinates did it' and that he later launched the 'Chehreha-ye Mandegar' program to make amends. Both outlets noted that social media users immediately reposted his November 1996 Sobh interview in which he had defended the program and asked whether its targets thought officials did not know 'which embassy pays them'. علی لاریجانی: حصر قرار نبود طولانی باشد، تولید برنامه هویت در تلویزیون اشتباه بود