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Report: Video game designer sentenced to death in Iran over propaganda charges
by Eric Caoili [Console/PC, Business]
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January 9, 2012
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A U.S.-born video game designer has been sentenced to death in Iran over charges that the CIA paid him to create games to sway public opinions on U.S. policies.
Iranian-American Amir Mizra Hekmati allegedly confessed to spying on the country and designing propaganda games, according to the ruling from the Islamic Revolutionary Court.
After the former U.S. marine was detained while visiting Iran in August (supposedly to visit family), local daily newspaper Tehran Times published excerpts from a purported confession in which Hekmati admitted to helping create games designed to "manipulate public opinion in the Middle East" at New York City-based developer Kuma Reality Games, under the CIA's direction and payroll.
Hekmati allegedly said, "[Kuma] was receiving money from the CIA to (produce) and design and distribute for free special movies and games with the aim of manipulating public opinion in the Middle East. The goal of the company in question was to convince the people of Iran and the people of the entire world that whatever the U.S. does in other countries is a good measure."
Along with various titles themed around dinosaurs, mobsters, and World War II, Kuma's catalog includes a free episodic first-person shooter set in the Middle East, featuring localizations in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu alongside English releases. Its Kuma\War series re-created scenarios in which players killed militant Islamist figures like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden.
The studio even released a Kuma\War episode titled "Assault on Iran," speculating on how the U.S. could respond to the country's nuclear weapons program. In the episode, players had to infiltrate an Iranian nuclear facility, "secure evidence of illegal uranium enrichment, rescue [their] man on the inside, and destroy the centrifuges that promise to take Iran into the nuclear age."
Kuma CEO Keith Halper previously told Gamasutra the release had an impact in Iran: "There were hundreds of thousands of downloads in Iran. We were denounced by name in the newspaper controlled by the supreme Ayatollah as a possible precursor to real US policy, which is absurd on the face of it, but speaks to the great power of real-time video games as a storytelling medium."
Halper also admitted to Kotaku editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo in 2006 that his company has previously accepted contract work to develop training software for the U.S. army as a side project. However, he did not state that the developer is bankrolled by the CIA or any other U.S. government organization to produce the Kuma\War series or other titles that Kuma released for consumers.
In addition to his confession that was published by Tehran Times, Hekmati appeared on Iranian state television in December and claimed to have been sent to the country by the CIA. He said his mission was to infiltrate Iran's intelligence ministry by providing them with information, gain their trust, and eventually report his findings to the U.S.'s own intelligence agency.
Iranian news agency Fars reported that the Revolutionary Court, which specializes in trying those accused of attempting to overthrow the country's government, found Hekmati "Corrupt on Earth and Mohareb (waging war on God)." The New York Times says the ruling "is routinely used in cases against alleged enemies of the Islamic Republic, and the charge carries the death sentence."
"Allegations that Mr. Hekmati either worked for, or was sent to Iran by the CIA are false," said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council. "The Iranian regime has a history of falsely accusing people of being spies, of eliciting forced confessions, and of holding innocent Americans for political reasons."
The White House is demanding Hekmati's release, and has called on the Iranian government to grant him access to legal counsel via diplomats from the Swiss Embassy, which represents the U.S.'s interests in Iran.
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And this guy's coerced confession is ridiculous. I hope this is all a show and some chest pumping and they ultimately let him go as a propagandized "humanitarian" gesture.
"In addition to his confession that was published by Tehran Times, Hekmati appeared on Iranian state television in December and claimed to have been sent to the country by the
CIA. "
This is just being an idiot in a really drastic country and getting sentenced for it ( a bit too harsh the death penalty if you ask me, but still... ).
I don't agree with the decision, but I find it hard to believe that he is just innocent(he might be tho).
In USA you kill people for murdering other people in some states, in china for bribe and in Iran you get this sentence more light offences it seems.
I don't like the regime either, but having accusations that mention nuclear research that should be stopped ( because US says so basically ) would make any country paranoid i guess.
There is a propaganda made on both fronts of this issue ( usa propaganda with nuclear issues and the other propaganda that is most likely done locally). I refuse to believe any news 100%.(even 50% is a big number).
Iran has every reason to be paranoid given the US's previous activities in the middle east. Although, obviously, they're going much too far here.
We survived decades with missiles and atomic bombs at our doorstep, backed by much larger and stronger countries. The threat of some tiny nation on the opposite end of the world that could squeeze out one a-bomb in a few years is minimal to non-existent.
Israel would be the only potential target, and nobody is dumb enough of to go nuclear against them with the US around.
I am far from what you describe. But any regime that would put someone to death for these charges shouldn't have nuclear weapons. If you want to call me a typical, paranoid American, go ahead. You are the one looking like a fool.
Iran is much different from other countries that had nuclear weapons. Your inability to see this doesn't change the facts.
I am not advocating war with them. I am not saying we do anything drastic or crazy.
I simply said if you are ok with them having nuclear weapons, you must be insane. Stereotype me all you want. The facts don't change. Iran doesn't seem to care about the consequences (one of them problems with a religion that allegedly rewards people for killing others and dying while doing so). So they are a far cry from the other nations of the past. And you don't think they would try to smuggle a nuclear weapon into the US or Europe or somewhere else and set it off? LULZ
I don't expect you to understand how wrong you are here, but you just proved David's point by saying this:
"one of them problems with a religion that allegedly rewards people for killing others and dying while doing so"
You ARE the typical paranoid and brainwashed and ignorant American.
Here is the Dunning–Kruger effect for you maybe you can research a bit before trying to respond according to your instincts, tho I doubt that you can comprehend anything . ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect )
Also I suggest doing your research on other countries through mediums other than TV.
You are telling me that certain, extreme Muslims do not willingly die for their beliefs in order to kill people they feel are a threat? I think you should wake up, son.
Let me try to clear something for you here(tho i fear my effort is futile).
- Beliefs does not mean RELIGION.
- More than this not all Iranians are extremist terrorists (i suppose that you are reffering to them since the country of Iran sentenced this man to death, not a terrorist group as your arguments imply.)
- Also Iran as a COUNTRY (not the terrorists) has done some nuclear research (nuclear enrichment alegetly for a power plant), they do NOT officially have any weapons. Only us says that they do but it was not confirmed with proofs (when accusing someone of something usually you need proof).
I am done arguing with you since it seems that you do fail(as i predicted) to understand some really simple facts.
P.S. China has nuclear weapons and they execute people for taking bribe. You are free to panic now.
P.S. try not to put words into someone's mouth next time. You misunderstood me time and again and I will not waste my time debating someone who either makes things up or lacks reading comprehension. Good day, sir.
HOWEVER these are the words that came out of your mouth and bother me a lot:
"Iran doesn't seem to care about the consequences (one of them problems with a religion that allegedly rewards people for killing others and dying while doing so). "
Let's look a bit at your sentence.
Iran doesn't care about consequences...no problem here.
Let's continue: "This is one of the problems with a religion that rewards people for killing others." (here comes the extremist part of that country).
You are confusing here Iran with some extremist groups that happen to be in the same geographical area.
Now this will be my last reply on this matter.
p.s. Contrary to popular opinion the leader is not the religion.
You still fail to provide support this sentence and this proves your ignorance:
"This is one of the problems with a religion that rewards people for killing others."
To quote a movie, I SAID GOOD DAY.
That said, I'm puzzled why a U.S. Marine and designer of games critical of current Iranian public policies/actions would even be in that country. Is this bravery, or foolhardiness (like people hiking anywhere near the Iranian border)? There must be more to this story.
Odds are small we'll ever know for sure.
This is a horrible consequence for exercising a human right and in any civilized society would have never happened.
Typical, paranoid Anti-American.
Or are you just sore that you had a disagreement in a previous thread and felt like you needed to bring it here, too? If that isn't the case, can you elaborate on how differentiating between propaganda and artistic expression makes someone paranoid and anti-American?
He was comparing them: "neither the US or Iranian governments are at all credible".
My disagreement has nothing to do with the previous thread, but what he said in THIS one.
Even if comparing the US to Iran was some sort of unforgivable transgression, it is pretty accurate in this specific case. David just said "neither the US or Iranian governments are at all credible", in direct reference to the possibility that we will never know the whole truth about this incident. That seems perfectly reasonable and a fair thing to say.
He isn't supporting Iran, he's just helpfully reminding everyone that expressive art and foreign funded propaganda are different things.
Should Iran be supported in its decision, regardless of if this man was working for the CIA? No, of course not.
Is it OK to use this as an excuse to deepen the trenches we've filled with western exceptionalism and erect meaningless idols of Isalmophobia forged from the same ash heap as Iraq's WMDs?
I doubt it.
But simply saying I don't believe Iran doesn't make me an Islamaphobe or make me believe in Western exceptionalism. Perhaps my early earlier comment to David was petty, and for that I apologize. Him calling me a paranoid American earlier was annoying and I should have done the mature thing and ignored his ignorance.
Saying "one of them problems with a religion that allegedly rewards people for killing others and dying while doing so" while painting broad strokes with the extremist brush, however, is a bit on the Islamophobic side of the fence.
But anyways, water under the bridge (or whatever), and I'm glad we're finally getting somewhere in an adult manner.
As far as the ignorance you perceive David (or anyone) to have, if you truly think he (or anyone) is ignorant, you should educate them about yourself instead of walking away. Ignorance is easily correctable, grudges aren't. It goes both ways though, but that's only a bad thing if your mind is closed, we could all stand to learn a little more.
Equating it to the entire country (intentionally or not) is where we run into problems:
"Iran doesn't seem to care about the consequences (one of them problems with a religion that allegedly rewards people for killing others and dying while doing so)"
It would've helped clarify things a bit if you didn't link instability with Islam from the get go, but your view seems reasonable now that you've explained it a bit.
/
Of course, the confession being false is just as likely given the Iranian regime's history when it comes to politically "undesirable" individuals, but the designer being a former US marine certainly makes it plausible that he'd have developed contacts that would have granted him access to funding from the American government.
Regardless, the death penalty for any kind of political speech (propagandic or not) is unacceptable and hopefully the US does whatever it takes to get him back.
*Facepalm*
That said, what I think happened was that he made a call to his family to see what the climate was over there, and the coast looked clear. He went, they ran his passport and he came up on a list of their citizens who they wanted on a rope, and they had him followed and scooped up.
Stranger things have happened, and I don't find the unfounded speculation here helpful to him.
Some of us saw the X-Box Live community completely change after Halo 2 for the worst. When the majority of gamers isn't experienced and mature enough to understand the rules and mechanics of a game, it can become really ugly. Halo was all about stealing kills and get the strongest weapons. What kind of gaming community do you think can come out of that?
The more fair and balanced a game is, the more mentally stable the gaming community is, react and act as a whole.
I cant believe this thread got more comments than Activision ones
Free speech should be a human right, but as others have stated, this man has explicitly acted as a member of an intelligence agency of a country that Iran sees as an enemy.
Did this man think that because he was an American, and previously a marine, and finally a hireling of the CIA, that he would somehow be above the law if he was found out? Or is it that he thought that US law is the only law? As long as you're acting as an agent of a particular country, you can expect to reap not only the rewards but the punishments on behalf of that country as a whole. That means the most extreme punishments. The US hung Saddam Hussein on public television. I would hardly call that a gracious punishment. When you have knocked an enemy to the floor, is it necessary to kill him in cold blood, in front of a crowd? Blood begets blood.
I would only wish this man well if I believed that taking decisions to interfere in the affairs of other countries (often unilaterally) on a regular basis were acceptable, since he was party to such actions. It seems to me there are still plenty of people out there who feel that every US military action since Korea (at the very least) was amply justified on the grounds that it IS acceptable to do so, and that OF COURSE the rest of the civilised world will thank you for it. Increasingly, that has proven not to be the case. His being or not being a game industry professional has absolutely no bearing on my evaluation of this situation. He could be a janitor or a general: The point is that he was applying his skills to artificially engineer Irani public opinion in a way which that government would quite obviously perceive as a threat. I would encourage others to view his situation without bias deriving from a sense of professional or nationalistic fraternity.
Also, the Iraqi government hanged Saddam. We were likely influencing it, I am sure, but it wasn't us that put it on TV and held the trial.