An Iranian official in the northwestern province of Gilan was sacked after a sex tape involving him and a young man was leaked on social media.

Peyman Behboudi who recently published the sex tape of the Iranian hijab watchdog official on his Telegram channel, says the Islamic Republic's agents have arrested his sister and her children. https://t.co/sPze3vKp6x

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) July 23, 2023

The official was identified as Reza Seqati, who served as a director of Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Gilan. The scandal surfaced when a video of him having sex with a young man began circulating on the Internet. The young man on the video was not identified.

Local Iranian media reported that Seqati’s dismissal was due to "scandals,” but the Iranian media and government did not specify which scandals led to him being fired from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which also serves as the Islamic Republic’s hijab watchdog especially as the regime continues to fight back against protests that were incited by the death of Mahsa Amini under police custody.

So, is this dude gonna do the construction crane swing, or nah?

— (((LOCK HIM UP!))) (@BenNiderberg) July 24, 2023

There were also claims that the decision to remove Seqati from being the director of the culture ministry’s branch in Gilan province was carried out under orders from the culture minister of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

The Iranian government has not yet commented on the issue, and media outlets that reported on the incident, like Iran International, cannot independently verify the authenticity of the controversial sex tape. However, Culture Minister Mohammad Mahdi Esmaili said in a video on July 19th that the regime “fired several ministry managers for their failure to adhere seriously to implementing the hijab law.”

Fake fake and fake

— (@MansoorNabiZad) July 20, 2023

Seqati is reportedly married with three daughters and was a staunch advocate of the hijab in Gilan. As the culture ministry’s director in the province, he took measures to implement the regime’s strict Islamic dress code in the area, such as opening a hijab supermarket and establishing a hijab exhibition in Rasht's central exhibition hall, which focuses on creating clothes that were in line with “Iranian-Islamic culture.”

His dismissal also came at a crucial time when Iran’s morality police, responsible for inciting some of the biggest protests in Iran since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, made a comeback around ten months after Mahsa Amini died under their custody.