Pious appearances

Colleagues insist the official never attended meetings without ablutions (meant to precede your prayers) and "fasted most of the time." Radio Gilan's profile also claims Masudianfar has residency in Germany, meaning the EU.

Before posting the pictures, it had warned the broadcasting body's chief, Peyman Jabali, that "you didn't seem to take our warning seriously," telling colleagues not to heed Radio Gilan as its revelations were fake.

Somebody inside the regime has decided to bite the bloodstained hand that feeds it.

The profile had issued similar warnings to officials before posting previous footage online, telling them to act against the individuals shown, though nothing was done. This appeared not to be Masudianfar's only affair with a female employee of Voice and Vision of the Islamic Republic, as the broadcaster is termed. Officials had yet to react.

Radio Gilan had earlier put out pictures and videos of other officials engaged in homosexual relations, in the northern province of Gilan. One was named as a mid-ranking cleric and head of the local morality offices, Hojjatoleslam Mehdi Haqshenas. The profile recently added that his wife had since asked for a divorce and may have tried to commit suicide.

The interesting point in the pictures, besides showing a regime's outrageous hypocrisy, was their clarity, suggesting preparation beforehand and access to government premises. As some are saying in Iran, somebody inside the regime has decided to bite the bloodstained hand that feeds it.

A level of hypocrisy

Some of the videos were so well-shot and clear that it seemed highly improbable they could have been taken spontaneously or for personal use.

Government and judiciary officials had to react to defend the regime's reputation as an upholder of moral values. Just months before, the state had furiously turned on thousands of protesters objecting to morality agents beating a girl to death over a loose headscarf.

In this case, some observers in Iran suspect the involvement of security officials in the revelations, though nobody is quite clear on the motives. These may include rivalries over positions, while some see in the revelations another sign of dissension inside the state following the 2022 revolt. Even regime hands are not in agreement over what to make of it all.

"Don't rush to judge"

One member of the parliamentary National Security Committee was reported on July 24 as saying, "we knew about this before the tape and had told the minister about it," though the minister, Muhammad Mehdi Ismaili, denied this on July 29, saying there had been no "negative reports" on the official before the "obscene" revelations. The legislator, Morteza Mahmudvand, told the website Dideban-e Iran that the entire affair had "hidden roots and aspects" he could not talk about. But all those who had failed to divulge "this affair" were traitors, he said.

Some parliamentarians were critical of the director-general's dismissal. The MP for the northern district of Sumaa Sara, Kazem Delkhosh, said "the devil has made a proposal here, so I would ask our friends to respond on the basis of The Qur'an and hadith [anecdotes on the Prophet Muhammad], and let public servants do their work within the law. Don't rush to judge."

There were already reports and complaints of "indecent" conduct.

Saqati had a typical regime profile, with a "martyred" brother from the Iran-Iraq war. This is often used as social, administrative or political credit. While in office, he founded a "Hijab and modesty work group" in Gilan, meant to promote, or enforce, public morals in and around the provincial capital Rasht, in coordination with the Basij militia and the Revolutionary guards. These are often involved in "morality" checks on the street alongside the police.

One problem with his work group — besides its rank hypocrisy — was its ties with state and religious officials. It was partly staffed by members of a religious association run by the brother of a former, senior defense official, Saeed Jalili. Saqati is believed to have found his "boyfriends" from among the very same Basijis or association members. It wasn't a one-off thing, as revelations or charges made by an Instagram channel known as Radio Gilan, suggest.

A regime with no scruples

Informal sources in Iran say state agents have interrogated Saqati's friends and close acquaintances, and the Revolutionary guards' own intelligence office is thought to have bugged his phone a while back. The pictures of him were taken by a camera placed in his official guesthouse, where he would relax.

Saqati was active in the province's religious life before his appointment. He would participate in the flagellation ceremonies associated with the Shia religious calendar, and there were already reports and complaints of "indecent" conduct at some of them. Some in town already knew he liked boys. In one video, he is reportedly with an 18-year-old who had asked Saqati to use his position to help him complete his two-year military service in Gilan, or not far from home.

Again, informal reports have the young man telling interrogators that he had been forced to be with Saqati several times. Sex-related revelations have emerged about other regime hands, notably a member of the Anzali municipal council in northern Iran, and a singer of propaganda hymns, Abuzar Ruhi. On July 31, Radio Gilan accused another provincial official and cleric, Mehdi Haqshenas, of having had sex with a male relative, adding senior clerics had intervened to keep this quiet.

The revelations and their timing may point to divisions inside the regime, but in any case, could they possibly embarrass a regime whose record of killings shows it has neither shame nor scruples?