THE TELEGRAPH: A forged degree certificate from Oxford University has toppled Iran's interior minister.
The Tehran parliament voted to impeach Ali Kordan over the issue, thereby dealing a severe blow to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mr Kordan had tried to prove his suitability for the post of interior minister by assuming the identity of an Oxonian. To support his claim of a British education, Mr Kordan flourished a certificate purporting to show that Oxford had awarded him an "honorary doctorate in Law".
This document, riddled with typing errors, garbled English and misspellings, supposedly carried the signatures of three Oxford professors. The certificate commended Mr Kordan for "preparing educational materials" and for "research in the domain of comparative law that has opened a new chapter not only in our university but, to our knowledge, this country".
Accordingly, the document announced that Mr Kordan was "intitled" to an honorary doctorate "in order to be benefitted from its scientific privileges".
But Oxford's administrative offices said the University had no record of giving Mr Kordan a semi-literate degree certificate. All three professors whose forged signatures appear on the document did indeed hold chairs at Oxford. But Mr Kordan had not troubled to check that they were lawyers. Oxford pointed out that none of them were.
Iran's parliament accordingly brought an impeachment motion against Mr Kordan, who was accused of other offences along with being a fake Oxonian. The impeachment was carried by 188 votes, with only 45 MPs backing Mr Kordan.
Mr Ahmadinejad had fought hard to keep his interior minister. The president, who faces re-election in June, has suffered a major blow to his authority. [Source: The Telegraph] By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor | November 4, 2008
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