Finding Humor in Tyranny

Fake diplomas and plagiarized articles seem to have become a fixture of the IRI , but the case of Kamran Daneshjou, Ahmadinejad's Science Minister, stands alone in its sheer audacity.

After it was revealed by the editors of Nature that a paper supposedly authored by Daneshjou was in fact written by a team of South Korean scientists, Majid Shahroudi -- a PhD candidate who was allegedly studying under Daneshjou at the time -- stepped forward claiming that the paper was based on his dissertation and that there was a simple mix-up with regards to the claim of authorship. He said Daneshjou was in no way responsible for the "confusion." (I'm still not sure how this explains why the paper was a word-for-word replica of the South Korean article, but I digress.)

Here's the kicker: Shahroudi went on to claim that Nature writer Declan Butler (who wrote the article exposing the plagiarism) was part of a "Zionist conspiracy" to slander officials of the Islamic Republic.

Just to be clear: the regime is now labeling a nonpolitical scientific journal as an enemy of the state.

(h/t Tehran Bureau).