Iran Feature: PhotoShopping a "Decent" Assad Family

PhotoShop has been a handy tool in the Islamic Republic to ensure the "right" images replace the "wrong" one for the public, from adding test-fired missiles to protecting Iranians from the cleavage of the West's women diplomats to cleaning up films and television shows of the immorality of bare arms and uncovered heads.

And not even a political ally is immune from the censor's changes.

Last week Mashregh News posted a feature on Bassel al-Assad, the elder brother of Syria's current President, killed in an automobile accident in January 1994. The article was a straightforward eulogy of "the symbol of Islamic resistance", with lots of photographs:

One of those pictures was of the Assad family, albeit with a couple of changes.

Here's the original --- long-time Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, his wife, his four sons, and his daughter:

And here's the image in the original article in Mashregh:

Looks like Bushra al-Assad, the only daughter, has fallen victim to a crop and a veil has been placed on the head of her mother.

Postscript: Mashregh appears to have had a partial change of PhotoShop heart --- Bushra al-Assad is still "disappeared" but the veil is almost gone.