Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Iranian sex tape scandal

Iranian sex tape scandal

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Delete per WP:LIBEL: This article is libelous; it accuses of a living person of a serious social misconduct/crime based on speculations of the media while no legal authority has even charged the said person of that said crime. Wikipedia is not publisher of libelous speculations. Fleet Command (talk) 04:06, 25 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

weak keep- with a possible re-write. I'm basing this mostly on the effect that it had on the society, up to and including the legislation in reaction to it. That seems to me to be an indicator of lasting notability. That said, if there is anything in there that is libelous, it should be immediately edited out. But as long as its sourced in reliable sources, I don't know if I see a problem. Umbralcorax (talk) 04:29, 25 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Comment Well, I can't possibly get your idea of a possible rewrite – perhaps you can kindly explain a bit details – but three thing is certain: (1) This article accuses someone who is not even charged! That's surely libel. Everyone is not guilty unless proven otherwise. (2) When it comes to scandals, media is not considered WP:RS: We all know that media has a reputation for sailing near the winding and bending the laws as much they could if it means money. Media would do it to us too, if a financially successful opportunity show itself. (3) WP:LIBEL says defamatory contents must be erased from Wikipedia and it does not make well-sourced libel an exception. Fleet Command (talk) 10:31, 25 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Iran-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 18:33, 25 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Crime-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 18:33, 25 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. (Full disclosure, I am the creator of the article.) I'm not sure what article you read, but it clearly does not accuse anyone of anything, certainly not libelously, and it clearly states that Ebrahimi has said that the girl in the tape is not her. The article does not even remotely take an editorial stance about whether or not it is her, and is appropriately sourced for such a delicate subject. The here point is that the Iranian government seemed, for a while, to be pretty sure it was her, and dispatched the equivalent of the country's attorney general to find out, which could have led to some extremely unpleasant consequences. This is a little like the U.S. sending Eric Holder to investigate the circumstances of the Pamela Anderson sex tapes.

It was a pretty major Iranian (and to a perhaps greater extent) British international news event that year, and I think the sources bear this out. In American papers it wasn't covered so closely, but it was for writers on both sides of the Atlantic a touchstone for the differences between popular culture under eastern and western regimes. Sex tape: make one in America and become famous (Paris Hilton), make one in Iran and suffer corporal punishment up to but not including the death penalty (although it was erroneously reported that she was liable to be stoned if it ever went to a trial). (If I could read Farsi, I'd tell you what their version of the article says (fa:رسوایی انتشار فیلم‌های جنسی در ایران.) It was not a minor thing. I was actually banned by Wikipedia's counsel and then reinstated by Jimbo Wales over this article because apparently the foundation received communication from people worried that media attention to the case was a direct threat to Ebrahimi's life. The article is factual, not prurient. It is not tabloid gossip.

News media is not WP:RS for accusations, that is absolutely correct. But nowhere Ebrahimi was at the heart of this scandal, whether it was her or not, and that is not equivocal, it is verifiable fact. Ford MF (talk) 20:05, 28 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]