2006 Iranian Sumptuary Law Controversy - Apology

Apology

On May 24, 2006, the National Post apologized for its reports that the Iranian law would "require Jews and other religious minorities in Iran to wear badges". "It is now clear the story is not true," wrote Editor-in-chief Douglas Kelly in a long editorial appearing on Page 2. "We apologize for the mistake and for the consternation it has caused not just National Post readers, but the broader public who read the story." The apology includes a description of story sources and factors that contributed to the decision to run the story. Amir Taheri is identified as the initial source for the "story of the alleged badge law". Story confirmation described in the apology included the dean and associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. The remaining positive confirmation described consists of two Iranian exiles in Canada who said they had heard of the story from contacts in Iran and they believed it to be true. Confirmation was attempted with the Iranian embassy in Ottawa, and the editorial claims that the embassy refused to confirm or deny the allegation (though another National Post article confirms that the Iranian embassy denied the allegation).

The National Post apology also identifies one of the factors that contributed to the decision to run the story as being "previous statements of the Iranian President."

Read more about this topic:  2006 Iranian Sumptuary Law Controversy

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