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Fact

Farnaz Fassihi misrepresented Solmaz Naraghi’s words.

One of the only named sources in the New York Times article, Solmaz Naraghi, has publicly stated that the reporter, Farnaz Fassihi, misrepresented her words.

A retraction was shared on Naraghi’s social media channels. As a result of this misrepresentation, Farnaz Fassihi added the word “verbal” to the abuse allegations in the Persian-language New York Times article. The correction was not called out in the Persian-language article and no similar edits were made in the English-version. Solmaz Naraghi was never sexually assaulted by Aydin Aghdashloo and Farnaz Fassihi grossly exaggerated the statements of Solmaz Naraghi (read about the supposed incident below).

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Fact

Laleh Sabouri clarified her tweet and regrets the misunderstanding it caused

One of the women referenced in the article has stated she saw no abusive behavior and, what she meant by “rape” was not of sexual nature.

On Feb. 9, 2021, Laleh Sabouri tweeted the following clarification:

“What I meant by the tweet regarding Mr. Aghdashloo, wasn’t rape or assault of sexual nature and I regret the misunderstanding it caused. Therefore I’m deleting those tweets.”

Laleh Sabouri’s February 9th tweet, expressing regrets for the misunderstanding.

Three days after posting comments on social media that she believed Aghdashloo was “capable of rape,” Laleh Sabouri, an actress working regularly for the Iranian state media network IRIB, tweeted on August 31, 2020 clarifying her definition of rape:

“Rape is when I’m not interested and you keep staring at me. Rape is when I’m not in the mood and you keep talking to me.”

Laleh Sabouri’s definition of “rape”

These reckless actions and absurd statements clearly fall short of the legal and societal definition of rape. In Iran, rape is a crime punishable by death.