MADRID - In recent days, the BBC published alleged documents classified as "confidential" belonging to the Islamic Revolution Guards. According to the British media, these documents included the names of the alleged killers of the young Nika Shakarami, as well as the officers responsible for covering up the case.

According to the BBC, after Nika Shakarami was detained and transferred to the back of an unidentified van, one of the agents sexually assaulted her while sitting on top of her.

The problem with the narrative presented by the BBC is that the information provided is riddled with forgeries and lacks credibility for various reasons. Several Iranian experts have explained that the journalists responsible for the investigation have a very limited understanding of the structure and functioning of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps or have intentionally altered some data.

The criticism of the supposed exclusive by the BBC should not be interpreted in any way as a call to refrain from investigating what happened or from condemning those members of the security forces allegedly involved in any type of abuse. Instead, it should be understood as an attempt to spotlight the BBC and the lack of rigor in some of its investigations related to Iran.

In the BBC reports, there is mention of an investigation into the death of Nika Shakarami and the subsequent interrogation of several members of the Revolution Guards. According to the internal structure of the Revolution Guards, all investigations into the actions of its members, as well as those of the Basij auxiliary force, fall under the responsibility of the Information Department of the Revolution Guards. However, in the documents presented by the BBC, there is no mention of any name of the person in charge of the Information Department as the author of the investigation.

What does appear in these documents are several names of police force officials. For example, one of the names mentioned is that of the supposed Commander of the Special Brigade of the Metropolitan Police of Tehran, Sayyed Reza Mousavi.

The problem with this information is that, on the one hand, the relevance of the Commander of the Special Brigade of the Metropolitan Police of Tehran in an internal information matter of the Revolution Guards is not understood, given that the responsibilities of this brigade are mainly operational and not related to information. On the other hand, at the time of the events narrated by the BBC in October 2022, the commander of this unit was Ahmad Noor Ali, and not Seyyed Reza Mousavi, as can be seen in the published documents. At that time, Reza Mousavi was the head of the Amir al Momenin Special Forces Unit and not, as mentioned, the commander of the Tehran Police Special Brigade.

According to the internal regulations of the Revolution Guards, when an investigation is opened, as in this case, it is led by the number two of the Information Unit of the Revolution Guards, and furthermore, this is carried out in the facilities of the headquarters of the Information unit. The presence of the same deputy director of Information of the said headquarters is necessary. However, his name does not appear in any of the documents provided.

Another aspect that has drawn the attention of Iranian experts is the issue of the time dedicated to the supposed internal investigation. According to the BBC itself, the provided data are the result of 1600 hours of investigation (approximately 70 days). The documents mention 5 or 6 accused individuals, implying that around 300 hours would have been spent on interrogating each of these accused. All of this amidst a security crisis in the country, where the norm, from the perspective of the Iranian state, would have been to deploy all its members on the streets instead of dedicating them to internal affairs.

While the previous point is purely speculative, the truth is that several of the documents presented by the BBC mention a supposed "Confidential Secretariat," tasked with preventing the dissemination of news related to the investigation. The issue with this Confidential Secretariat is that it does not exist within the organizational structure of the Revolution Guards.

On the other hand, the documents published by the BBC are supposed to be the originals of the Revolution Guards’ internal investigation, but they lack both a date and a registration number.

Another aspect that draws a lot of attention is the incorrect use of military ranks, suggesting that the individuals who released the documents may not be familiar with the internal structure and hierarchy of the Revolution Guards. For example, one of the documents mentions the "commander" of the Information Unit in the Tehran province. Following internal security protocols, the title of "head" or "chief" should have been used, and under no circumstances a "commander". Other similar examples in the documents include the titles of "inspector", which do not exist within the Revolution Guards’ organizational chart. Therefore, it makes no sense for the expression "Chief Inspector of the File" to appear in a supposed official report. Likewise, the term "Investigator" is not used; instead, titles such as "Specialist" are preferred.

Furthermore, the reports published by the BBC include assessments that are not usually found in reports of this nature. For example, it is mentioned literally: "It was said that, given that we had 19 deaths that night, we didn't want the figure to reach 20, so we left it under the bridge...." Another example mentioned in the documents is that when Nika Shakarami was detained inside a police van, one of the officers, identified as Arash Kollar, saw Sadeq Manjazi, another officer in the van, with "his hand inside Nika's pants". From a cultural standpoint and according to several experts, such expressions in a report where the head of the intelligence organization informs the commander-in-chief of the Revolution Guards, these details are considered inappropriate.

Based on the above, it can be concluded that the BBC has not even bothered to verify the names of the commander in charge of the internal security body of the Revolution Guards, nor those of other officials, nor does it understand what their responsibilities are within the organization's structure.

If the intention of the BBC was to investigate what happened during the security crisis in the country in 2022, it should have been required to comply with minimum professional and ethical standards.