Iranian Minister’s Oxford Degree ‘A Fake’
British university denies claim it bestowed honorary doctorate on Tehran interior minister, who, in turn, displays forged degree certificate riddled with errors as ‘proof’
Y Net 08.13.08
Iran’s new interior minister has raised an uproar among lawmakers and Iranian media over an apparently fake claim that he holds an honorary doctorate from Britain’s Oxford University. To back his case, he’s shown off a degree certificate riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes.
Oxford issued a statement Wednesday denying it ever awarded Ali Kordan an honorary doctorate of law, as he claimed to parliament before it approved his appointment to the post earlier this month.
The Interior Ministry put out a copy of the degree, with an Oxford seal and dated June 2000, aiming to prove its authenticity.
But in the certificate, “entitled” is misspelled “intitled,” and it says Kordan was granted the degree “to be benefitted from its scientific privileges.”
The clumsily worded document says Kordan “has shown a great effort in preparing educational materials and his research in the domain of comparative law,that has opened a new chapter,not only in our university,but, to our knowledge,in this country” - leaving out spaces after all but one of the commas. It was published in several Iranian papers this week.
Oxford said in its statement that it “has no record of Mr. Ali Kordan receiving an honorary doctorate or any other degree from the university.” It added that the three professors whose alleged signatures are on the certificate have all held posts at the university at some stage but none of them work in the field of law and none would sign degree certificates.
Tehran shuts down news website
The alleged fake has been heavily covered in several Iranian newspapers and Web sites, and parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Monday ordered the body’s education committee to look into the degree’s authenticity.
The Tehran prosecutors office announced Wednesday that the Alef news Web site, which has carried several reports questioning the degree, has been “banned based on complaints by legal entities,” the state news agency IRNA reported. The office said the site had no work license and did not link the ban to the interior minister issue. The site could not be accessed in Iran on Wednesday.
“The Interior Ministry does not have the right to threaten the media for questioning the authenticity of the claim,” parliament member Ahmed Tavakoli was quoted as saying on Alef. He said the “truth of such an important issue must be made clear.” Interior Ministry officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment on the Oxford statement.
During his confirmation debate, numerous lawmakers argued Kordan was unqualified for the ministry post, some claiming that his Oxford degree was a fake.
Ahmadinejad defended Kordan amid the debates, dismissing degrees in general as “torn paper” not necessary for serving the people.
An Interior Ministry statement this week insisted the degree was authentic, calling claims otherwise “destructive” and “insulting” and urging media to refrain from “lying and suspicious reports.”
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Pfft, most people with degrees, coming from the liberal brainwashing, are as dumb as he is.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:48 amFake religion, fake degree. Who is surprised by these vermin?
August 14th, 2008 at 6:53 amToo funny.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:01 amIt always impresses me how much people who are “truth challenged” accuse others of lying. Apparently they think everyone does it. They will reap what they sow. With respect to Iran, their whole government and religion are based on lies - and they too will also eventually reap what they sow. Ditto for Russia.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:09 amDoes Iran even exist? Or has it all just been lies and photobucket. I’m serious. I’m starting to think that maybe the whole place is a myth. A Muslim fairy tale. One huge fucking rumor.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:06 amNo, it exists, they just need to photoshop it into maps
August 14th, 2008 at 8:40 amMaybe we could Photoshop Iran off of the maps - Problem Solved!
August 14th, 2008 at 9:25 amT-Bagg:
I lived in Iran in the ’70s. Iranians were very pro-American and pro-French, but anti-British and anti-German. When the Shah went into exile in January 1979, one million international workers were employed in Iran.
When the hardliners took over, a lot of people became religious in a hurry. The Ayatollah Khomeini went on a frenzy of mass murder. My landlord and his family were slaughtered for their pro-Shah association.
When the American Embassy workers were taken hostage in late 1979, men from a poor town south of Iran were bussed in and paid to protest outside the bldg. The international media had a field day. So did the U.S. media. When the cameras weren’t rollling, the men didn’t protest.
There are some very brave people in Iran, and some riveting memoirs that you might want to read. The Shah of Iran published his memoirs in 1980. He lamented the daily reports of loss of life, and wrote, after all the negative press against him and Iran’s former Constitutional Monarchy: “…[T]he U.S., and indeed most Western countries, had adopted a double standard for international morality: anything Marxist, no matter how bloody and base, is acceptable, the policies of a socialist, centrist, or right-wing goverment are not.”
August 14th, 2008 at 3:51 pmIt’s rumored that Ahmadinejad’s degree in Civil Engineering was honorary. Whether it was honorary or not, he’s definitely lacking in leadership and diplomatic skills. He’s deliberating taunting America, and other Western countries, trying to provoke an excuse to go to war. He and the Russian bear are friends for a reason.
During Khomeini’s orgy of killing, the Shah saw the lists of people who died. No Communist names were mentioned. But Communism was a prevalent force in Iran.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:11 pm