Iranian Minister's Phony Diploma Exposed

(Tehran, Iran) To gain support for his appointment as Iranian Interior Minister, Ali Kordan showed off his "honorary doctorate of law" from Oxford University. It worked and Kordan was appointed Minister earlier this month.

However, there were some questions about Kordan's degree.

Alef, a news site with opposition connections, obtained a copy of Kordan's "diploma" and asked Oxford to check its validity. The University promptly replied that it never gave Kordan any degree. Besides exposing Kordan's fraud, Alef also mocked the minister for riddling his "certificate" with English spelling errors.

Alef got quite a reward for its scoop. Soon after breaking the story, access to the site was blocked, a common punishment the regime has used against antagonistic websites.

Instead of firing Kordan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended him and rejected criticism because of a "piece of torn paper."

Frankly, I suspect this type of scheming is a common practice in Iran.

Also: The Jawa Report