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Uproar Over the Execution of an Innocent Prisoner

Hoshang Amiri
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Uproar Over the Execution of an Innocent Prisoner

Despite being acquitted of his charges, Abbas-Gholi Salehi, aged 42, was executed last Wednesday by the Iranian regime at Dastgerd prison in Isfahan just a day after an immediate court ruling sentenced him to death following a 20-year prison sentence.

Salehi’s family were informed of his pending execution following the ruling on Tuesday and that evening, a large group of local people gathered outside of the prison to call for the sentence to be revoked. His family was warned by regime authorities to remain silent, who threatened to bring about false charges against Salehi’s brother who is currently imprisoned.

In order to create a sense of fear among the public, the Iranian regime is known to randomly execute ordinary prisoners. Numerous accounts have highlighted that regime authorities often torture prisoners and force them to confess to crimes that they haven’t committed.

Contrary to the regime’s desire, however, Salehi’s execution was met not with fear but with public outrage. On Thursday, a large group of people in Yazdanshahr, Isfahan province, gathered to commemorate Salehi while singing songs and chanting slogans about revenge.

In fear of the situation, the regime, a few hours after Abbas-Gholi Salehi’s execution, arrested his brother, and his father was asked to disperse people from the front of the prison and told them that whatever happens next, they will be guilty.

The regime’s officials forced his family to execute the funeral on the same day. However, due to resistance from Abbasgholi Salehi’s family and locals, the ceremony was held on Thursday with the participation of a large number of Yazdanshahr people in Isfahan.

In this regard, a resident of Yazdanshahr said:

‘The ceremony was traditionally held in a march and mourning ceremony. Despite the regime’s threats, the people participated in a large scale that showed another view of dissatisfaction with the regime.’

With the social and economic crises faced by Iranian citizens at the moment, it is no wonder that they are becoming increasingly restive. The impending threat of another nationwide uprising has the regime worried, and they have been trying a number of tactics to try and quell the outrage and keep the population in check, from beating and humiliating youths in the streets to the executions of political and ordinary prisoners.

The regime’s eagerness to quell any potential uprisings is not surprising, considering the members of the new government cabinet, including the regime’s new president Ebrahim Raisi, who is responsible for a number of crimes against humanity. The regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has had a hand in appointing ministers with appalling criminal histories to high positions of power within the regime in order for him to maintain a firm grip on controlling the public unrest.

The Speaker of the Majlis (parliament), Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was formerly a commander under the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) who have been highly involved in cracking down on protesters in recent years. Another official, the Chief of Judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei is currently blacklisted for his past human rights violations towards protesters and political dissidents.

The execution of Salehi is the latest manifestation of the regime’s desperation to maintain control over an 80-million strong population that no longer wants it.

Salehi’s execution in Isfahan after 20 years shows the cruelty of the clerical regime that cannot continue its rule for even one a day without torture and executions.

It appears, however, that the regime’s method of repressing society’s outrage is becoming less effective considering the rallies that took place before and after Salehi’s execution, with protesters standing their ground and calling the regime out on their wrongdoings.

Just last week, a large group of people from Ilam held a demonstration outside of Fashafuyeh prison in Tehran to protest the murder of youth from their province who had been killed at the prison under torture.

The people of Iran, who have nothing to lose but their miseries under the rule of the mullahs, are no longer afraid of the regime and its brutal security forces. And every single execution adds to their ire and outrage and their desire to topple this regime.

Iranians Are Facing the Worst Fall in Purchasing Power in History

Jubin Katiraie
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Iranians Are Facing the Worst Fall in Purchasing Power in History

The largest drop in food purchasing power in Iran’s history has been reported. According to annual statistics, the volume of the loss of purchasing power of Iranian households has reached its highest level in 2021.

If during the years of the Iran-Iraq war people faced a shortage of goods to supply their food, this year the famine situation has been imposed on households not by a shortage of goods but by high prices and disproportionate wages to inflation. The economist Ehsan Soltani used the term “imposed famine” to describe the effects of this fall.

Citing the national average in the last two years, incomes and salaries have increased by 30 percent, and the inflation rate has risen above 50 percent, which means that the income of families has fallen behind inflation above 50 percent.

For four years now, food prices have been on an increasing circuit, and the ratio of food growth to wage growth has been much higher. This is the first time that this is happening in Iran.

In the history of Iran, food price growth to wage growth has lasted just for a year, and each time in the following year, food prices have become relatively stable and there has been purchasing power for it. But now, for the first time in four consecutive years, food prices have continued to grow far more than wage growth, and this tragedy has created the biggest fall in household purchasing power.

Also, according to data from the Statistical Center, the food inflation rate of the three low-income deciles reached above 60 percent this September, unprecedented in the last four decades.

Meanwhile, the first decile of income has suffered less inflation than low-income deciles, the edible inflation rate of low-income deciles is above 61 percent, and inflation imposed on the poor is currently 4 units higher than high-income ones.

Last year, at the same time, the inflation rate of low-income deciles was 21 percent, and the difference was less than one percent from the inflation rate of the high-income deciles.

With the sharp decline in the purchasing power of Iranian families, red meat, rice, and beans, etc. are removed from the basket of many households, and the head of the supermarket union announced the closure of about 20 percent of supermarkets because of the expensive food.

After the growth in the price of common foods such as meat, rice, and beans, low-income households inevitably have removed these goods from their list of purchases and have opted for alternative commodities.

However, with government policies and decision-makers and the elimination of government currency from items such as rice, sugar, and food inputs, alternative commodities were not spared from expensiveness.

For example, the price of bread was held steady in 2018 and 2019, but this year suddenly it increased more than three times.

The most important culprit in these costs and lack of protectionist policies is the government’s corrupt relationship with large private and rent-seeking enterprises.

Oil, gas, electricity, and water, which are among the public assets, are given to private enterprises and rent-seeking companies at very low prices, who are making billions of profits.

According to calculations last year, the annual net profit of 20 large private enterprises was equivalent to the total budget deficit of the government.

Meanwhile, only through the increase in the price of minerals, water, electricity, and gas of industrial and government-private enterprises, 500 trillion tomans of income will be generated, which can be directed towards financing welfare protection policies and strengthening the purchasing power of households.

Iran’s Government Sends People’s Needed Oxygen to Iraq

Esmaeil Mohades
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Iran’s Government Sends People’s Needed Oxygen to Iraq

On September 21, 2021, Iran’s health minister made an unprecedented confession about the death of coronavirus patients and the lack of oxygen in the country.

On this subject, the state-run news agency SNN quoting the health minister wrote:

“The daily deaths of 600 and 700 people are catastrophic. I went to nine provinces, and I’ve seen all their ICUs. The situation is catastrophic. The most important issue for coronavirus patients was maintenance and oxygen which were catastrophic when I went to Imam Reza Hospital, more than 80% of the patients were intubated (dangerous and dying coronavirus patients who are intubated in their trachea).”

When reading these sentences someone can think that the regime’s health minister is concerned about the situation and the lack of medicine and oxygen, but he is the minister of a government which in such a situation is exporting the country’s much-needed oxygen to Iraq.

Basra Health Department announced the arrival of 60-ton shipments of the Iranian regime’s donated oxygen to Basra to meet the needs of coronavirus patients in health institutions.

Iraqi media also reported on the efforts of the Iranian consulate in Basra, the general efforts of the regime, the Hashd al-Shaabi, the Basra Health Department, and the representative of Khamenei’s office to send liquid oxygen tankers to Basra.

This comes after the Iranian people died in hospitals because of the lack of oxygen.

In appreciation of sending the oxygen needed for coronavirus patients from Iran to Basra, Basra’s Health Director Abbas Khalaf Tamimi said in a television interview:

“I thank the Islamic Republic and its consulate in Basra, the governor of Khuzestan, and the Hashd al-Shaabi for the arrival of the first shipment of liquid oxygen to Basra hospitals. Some of these shipments are also shipped to Helleh province.

“This is not a strange news story for the Islamic Republic. I cannot thank them enough, and I expect them to send more oxygen shipments to Basra. We receive 60 tons of oxygen per day or a day in between from the Islamic Republic, and tomorrow, inshallah, 100 tons more will come.

“We need a high level of discipline in this work and the Iranian side is cooperating very well with us. This cooperation is not limited to today, but in the coming days, our brothers at the Iranian consulate will cooperate in this regard. They inform the governor of Khuzestan to cooperate with government parties and with the high organization over the coming months by the end of the year.” (Al-Ahd TV, August 4, 2021)

ISNA approved this event and wrote: “The Islamic Republic of Iran has sent tankers carrying liquid oxygen to Iraq for patient use across the Shalamcheh border, Basra crisis committee announced Saturday.” (August 16, 2021)

Asaad al-Idani, chairman of the committee and governor of Basra, said in a statement: “We have coordinated with the governor of Khuzestan regarding the arrival of three tankers carrying liquid oxygen through the Shalamcheh border, and this oxygen will be sent to hospitals where coronavirus patients are hospitalized.”

The state-run news agency IRNA about the critical situation in Iran’s hospitals and the lack of oxygen wrote:

“Due to the high number of hospitalization of patients in southwestern Khuzestan hospitals and high humidity of air, hospital oxygen maker devices do not meet the needs of patients and we are faced with a severe shortage of oxygen capsules due to the sultry air the oxygen maker machine of Taleghani Hospital of Abadan and Valiasr Hospital in Khorramshahr are disabled, and more than 200 capsules of oxygen is needed to provide oxygen for patients. Now 20 cities in Khuzestan including Abadan, Khorramshahr, and Shadegan are in the red situation, three are orange cities and four are yellow cities.” (September 5, 2021)

About oxygen shortages in hospitals in South Khorasan province, Tasnim news agency wrote: “Lack of oxygen in medical centers and hospitals in North Khorasan has been evident due to the outbreak of the fifth peak of coronavirus and the peak of the presence of coronavirus patients in different wards.” (Tasnim, September 3, 2021)

In this regard, Hamshahri newspaper wrote on August 30, 2021: “Eight provinces of Gilan, Isfahan, North Khorasan, Hamedan, Khorasan Razavi, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kermanshah and Qom are facing oxygen shortages, which has caused additional pressure on patients and medical staff.”

The lack of oxygen and its devices is so high that numerous people have been waging oxygen therapy campaigns to collect cash and supply oxygen devices in Iran.

Iran’s President and His Mirage of Returning Blocked Currencies

Pooya Stone
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Iran’s President and His Mirage of Returning Blocked Currencies

Iran regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi with a new order to the country’s national bank added a new fact to his case of incompetence and his inability in directing and running a government, especially in the field of the country’s struggling economy.

Last Sunday at the tenth meeting of the Government’s Economic Coordination Headquarters, Raisi obliged the Central Bank to return foreign exchange resources to the country, which may have the least relativity with the central bank’s job description in the current situation, because the country’s foreign exchange resources have been affected by sanctions for several years, and obviously the regime’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be obliged to lift sanctions to solve this problem.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether such an order, in a strict way to the head of the Central Bank, can it be a solution to return foreign exchange resources to the country. And it remains to be seen whether the president’s orders can overcome the problems of the country’s foreign exchange resources.

This order was given by Raisi emphasizing the need to stabilize the market and take preventive measures of currency fluctuations, which is mainly due to the regime’s wasting of resources in corrupt and terror activities and the sanctions raised by them.

Iran’s foreign exchange resources are not available to the Central Bank to return them. There are two types of foreign exchange resources, one is foreign exchange resources that are available to international organizations and banks and have been seized because of sanctions, these organizations and banks are still not allowed to return Iran’s foreign exchange resources.

Recently, the U.S. allowed South Korea to give Iran’s regime $7 billion of its foreign exchange reserves in the form of goods. The U.S. government even specified the goods that should be from Samsung and LG brands. The rest of the currencies currently seized are not in the scope of the central bank’s work and authority to return them.

There are other foreign exchange resources, which are the currencies that some of the regime’s elements have taken from the Central Bank under the pretext of importing, some of these currencies have entered the country in the form of commodities, and others have neither been imported into the form of goods nor returned to the Central Bank, which is one of the worst and hidden corruption cases in Iran.

The executive grounds for returning foreign exchange resources to Iran are not provided for the regime at all. On blocked foreign exchange resources, the biggest problem is that it is tied to the JCPOA, which until now the regime did not accept to return to the negotiations while facing with higher demands, that each of them will be the rope around its neck.

And on the other side, no bank will work with the Iranian regime until it solves its FATF issue and its affiliated conventions such as the CF and Palermo are ratified in parliament and formally announced that they have been accepted, i.e. And until Iran’s financial transactions are not transparent and the issue of countering terrorism financing that Westerns believe is not signed, there will no progress in this field for the regime.

This means that even if Iran’s regime is allowed to export, they cannot use the international banking system because it relies on a new JCPOA to be signed and the FATF approved, which means that Iran’s financial transactions must be transparent.

If Iran’s financial transactions are not transparent, international banks fear that a case originating from money laundering or terrorism will be subject to U.S. sanctions, so no bank will take that risk.

Therefore, the hope that even if the JCPOA is signed will create an opening is a false hope, the United States will not remove all the regime’s sanctions and will keep 500 sanctions as its previously said, which are related to the regime’s cases such as its terrorism and human rights violations.

Finally, addressing the central bank to return the regime’s foreign currency resources is not an economic challenge but a political, therefore Raisi’s order to the central to return them is just propaganda for internal purposes to cover up its weakness.

Swiss Court Ruling Halts the Closure of Dr. Rajavi’s Assassination Investigation

Sia Rajabi
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Swiss Court Ruling Halts the Closure of Dr. Rajavi’s Assassination Investigation

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court issued a ruling on September 23 which has halted the closure of the investigation of the assassination of Dr. Kazem Rajavi that took place in Switzerland in 1990. Under the statute of limitations of murder, the case was set to close last year after 30 years, following an announcement from the public prosecutor for the Swiss canton of Vaud.

The reconsideration has come after Iranian opposition attorneys have argued in court that Dr. Rajavi’s death could be attributed to a case of genocide, as his assassination came just two years after the 1988 massacre, which saw the mass murders of 30,000 political prisoners at the hands of the Iranian regime.

Dr. Rajavi was near his home in Geneva in 1990 when he was gunned down by a 13-member hit squad that had been organized by regime officials. At the time, he had been working as a representative for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to Switzerland. Despite the men involved in his assassination being identified soon after, they fled back to Iran and no authorities have been able to execute warrants for their arrest since.

The assassination of Dr. Rajavi was carried out in accordance with the same fatwa which underlay the 1988 massacre – one in which then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini declared that all members and supporters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) were guilty of “enmity against God” and should therefore be executed without delay.

As the fatwa issued by Khomeini specifically named the MEK, and those who were in opposition to the regime’s fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, attorneys for the Iranian opposition have argued that Dr. Rajavi’s death can be linked to other assassinations in the same era which signify that the regime was trying to destroy the Iranian Resistance movement.

In a conference in August, participants highlighted that the prosecutions of regime officials could take place in the International Criminal Court on the principle of universal jurisdiction. Two experts who were present for the conference, Professor Eric David from the University of Brussels and British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, both made statements that the atrocities committed at the 1988 massacre fit the criteria to be labeled as acts of genocide.

That expression of impunity was reinforced at the international level by the presence of a European delegation at Raisi’s inauguration, in the wake of widespread calls for him to be isolated, delegitimized, and ultimately prosecuted for genocide.

Western governments’ methods of appeasing the regime instead of holding them accountable for their crimes against humanity have only reinforced the sense of impunity that the regime has. However, the Swiss court’s decision to halt the closure of the investigation into Dr. Rajavi’s murder seems to be a step in the right direction to finally uncloak the regime’s impunity.

President-elect of the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi has described the court’s decisions as a ‘historic turning point’ and a ‘necessary step in countering the unbridled terrorism of the clerical regime’.

She warned the international community that recent events involving the regime, show that they have not changed how they operate in the past 30 years since the atrocities that they caused in the late 80s and early 90s. In reference to the 2018 bomb plot of an NCRI rally in Paris, and the brutal crackdown of the 2019 uprising in Iran she said, “Terrorism and repression are inherent and indispensable to the ruling religious tyranny.”

These incidents make it clear that as well as defining the regime’s current presidential administration, the legacy of the 1988 massacre represents persistent threats both to the Iranian people and to global security.

Iran’s DANA Contract, Corruption, and Damage to the People

Jubin Katiraie
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Iran’s DANA Contract, Corruption, and Damage to the People

The UAE energy company DANA Gas announced on September 28, 2021, that an international arbitral tribunal has ruled that the Iranian government pay a $607.5 million fine to the company.

This dispute is related to a 25-year gas purchase agreement between DANA Gas Company, a subsidiary of Crescent Petroleum, and the regime’s National Iranian Oil Company. DANA Gas says the gas was never delivered.

The damages, which followed a ruling in Dana’s favor in 2014, relating to the first eight and a half years of the 25-year agreement, which was due to begin in 2005. DANA Gas said in a statement that the last hearing of the much bigger claim for the remaining 16.5 years was scheduled for October next year in Paris and that a decision on the case would be made in 2023.

The Crescent contract is a contract signed between The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Crescent Inc. during Mohammad Khatami’s government, during the Oil Ministry of Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, initial negotiations began in 1997 and eventually led to the signing of the joint memorandum of understanding in 2001.

After reviewing the regulatory bodies, determined that the price of Iranian gas exports was very low and nearly to be gratis. A lawsuit has also been filed for violators of this contract in Iran but without any progress, as many of the violators are high-ranked people of the ruling body.

High-damaging and tainted contracts such as Crescent, Total, Acetate Oil, etc. have often involved bribes, for example, Total is accused of giving $30 million in bribes to a team headed by Mehdi Hashemi during the Zanganeh Ministry in Khatami’s government.

Total was therefore sentenced in a French court to a fine of 500,000 euros. Despite this dark past, another contract was re-signed with Total under Rouhani’s administration, which ended only in the presentation of the South Pars reservoir’s secret information to Total and Total’s subsequent break, while the French company is simultaneously operating extensively in the Qatari part of this large reservoir and has now gained access to Iran’s valuable information about South Pars.

The then President Hassan Rouhani, in 2002 as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, in a letter addressing the head of the government at the time (Khatami), described the action of the Minister of Petroleum (Zanganeh) in concluding a contract with the Emirati company Crescent outside the framework of the law, through ‘intermediaries’ and facing many negative effects for the country.

In that letter, Rouhani stressed, ‘Signing a long gas contract with an unreliable company that, according to reports received from the Oil Ministry, has performed poorly over the past years, and with the disregard for Iran’s rights about the Mubarak oil field, is a repetition of the bitter experience that we have been through for many years.

‘The price and contractual terms negotiated are very low and unpopular compared to the region. The Crescent deal is likely to have long-term negative economic impacts on the country’s gas market and will not have any political benefits. Since about a year ago, I have raised questions from the oil minister about the Crescent contract, which despite your order, no response has been received. The contract has been signed through intermediaries and lack of direct governmental communication with an invalid company.’

Then surprising in his presidency Hassan Rouhani appointed Bijan Zanganeh as the minister of oil. With a case of the elimination of the fuel card for four years during this management, period destroyed transparency and intensified the consumption (smuggling) of 20 million liters of gasoline per day, considering 100 billion tomans of smuggling per day, pouring 144 trillion tomans out of people’s pockets into the throats of government’s affiliated smugglers working for the IRGC.

After that, the regime’s shocking decision to suddenly triple the price of gasoline occurred in November 2019, which ended with the November 2019 protests with 1500 protesters killed by government forces.

There were many margins around this contract, including in 2013 a bi-national Iranian living in Britain named Abbas Yazdanpanah Yazdi, who was a friend of Mehdi Hashemi, son of Rafsanjani, was abducted shortly before testifying in the Crescent case in Dubai. And then killed. The prosecutor of the Dubai Criminal Court announced that Yazdanpanah had given evidence about the Crescent contract to the Hague Tribunal shortly before his abduction via internet call.

According to a video released by Iran’s principlist faction, Abbas Yazdanpanah had released the names of those involved in the mafia case, adding that a company called Jabal, represented by Mehdi Hashemi, was formed, seeking a stake in oil contracts with multinational corporations.

According to the evidence, Mehdi Hashemi was one of the initial negotiators of the contract for the sale of gas to Crescent but was later marginalized and did not play a role in the final signing of the contract.

Now, a few years later, it seems that not only none of these government officials have done any good for the Iranian people, but today the Iranian people must pay the price for theft, bribery, and incompetence of the officials by paying heavy compensation. At the same time, the Iranian people are struggling to make ends meet under the burden of poverty, high prices, and inflation.

Protests Continue in Iran in Response to Current Social and Economic Crises

Hoshang Amiri
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Protests Continue in Iran in Response to Current Social and Economic Crises

In recent weeks, many protests have taken place across Iran because of society’s agitation at the Iranian regime’s lack of attempts to resolve the current social and economic crises in Iran.

On Tuesday, retirees from Iran’s Health Ministry held protests in cities across Iran demanding that they receive their delayed pensions and bonuses that the regime has refused to adjust to fit the rising inflation rate.

On September 3, just before the start of the new academic year, Iranian teachers began the first of many protests in response to the lack of employment opportunities and low salaries.

The NCRI said, “There have been many protests by the green report card teachers, who have passed the Education Ministry’s employment test. Still, the regime has so far refused to employ them despite the shortage of teachers across Iran.”

The regime is not adjusting pensions and salaries to fit with the current economic situation. Wages were increased in April to 39% but considering the rising inflation rate since then, the rise is nowhere near enough for people to comfortably live on.

In a quote from Ali Aslani from the board of directors of Islamic Labor Councils, the Kar-o Kargar daily wrote, “A 39% increase in salaries in 2021 will cover only 37 percent of the people’s cost of living. A worker’s salary of 4 million Tomans covers only ten days of the month, and after that, the workers barely make ends meet until the end of the month. They have to remove many of the basic expenses of their lives.”

According to the state-run media and officials, Iran’s poverty line is estimated to be around 10 million tomans. Meanwhile, the salary base is 3.9 million tomans.

Etemad daily explained that according to the Statistics Center of Iran, the estimated poverty line figure sits between 11 and 12 million tomans, but many teachers earn less than half of that.

According to Article 41 of the regime’s labor law, it states that ‘salaries should be adjusted with the inflation rate’ and that wages ‘should be enough to provide the minimum of a life.”

In other words, the regime could help Iranians by at least implementing its labor law. But as time passes, it becomes clearer that the clerical regime is not willing to help Iranians.

To date, Ebrahim Raisi, the regime’s new president, along with his administration has yet to establish a plan to resolve the economic issues faced by Iranians or to combat the rising inflation rates. During his tours around the country following his inauguration in August, Raisi has only offered false promises to Iranian citizens, claiming that, “if God wills,” the problems would be resolved!”

Etemad daily stated in their September 28 publication that many of the problems that need to be resolved to need clear legislation to overcome them and they believe that Raisi either lacks the will or the ability to assign tasks that need to be completed to advance the efforts to resolve the crises.

In fact, Raisi’s government is handpicked by the regime’s Supreme Leader for consolidating power in the regime through terrorism and domestic oppression. The regime’s oppression is aimed to reduce protests and control Iran’s restive society.

Iran’s Tax-Exempt Companies Wield Power

Sia Rajabi
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Iran’s Tax-Exempt Companies Wield Power

An economist linked to the Iranian government says that 20 rent-seeking companies under the control of the regime’s supreme leader have a profit of more than 250 trillion tomans ($9 billion) and are exempt from paying taxes.

Hossein Raghfar, an economist, citing statistics from the Central Bank of Iran, has stated that 20 large state-owned rent-seeking companies in 2020 had a net profit of 250 trillion tomans, which, according to him, is equal to the government budget deficit, although other sources, including the report of the Court of Accounts of the Government Parliament, considers the figure of the government budget deficit to be higher than this figure.

According to Raghfar, the country’s trade balance has been positive in the first five months of 2021, but the government is still suffering from a huge budget deficit.

Although according to Raghfar, the government can compensate for this budget deficit from the place of taxation, the experience of previous years in the Rouhani government showed that in practice, taxation is done only from low-income groups and lower deciles of society. The upper deciles of society are tax-exempt due to their relationship with organizations of power and wealth.

Raghfar points out that in practice what will provide for the budget deficit will come from the pockets of the low-income groups, not organizations such as rent-seeking companies with a profit of 250 trillion tomans.

One of the main proposals made in recent years by government economists as a source of income for the budget deficit is to tax the vacant houses and real estate, which according to evidence and statistics about 2.5 million vacant houses in Tehran are at the disposal of banks and other powerful government-affiliated economic entities.

In other parts of the world, however, real estate taxes are one of the main sources of revenue for the budget.

However, due to the collusion of the authorities and despite numerous proposals to collect taxes from these vacant houses, the higher institutions in the government, such as the parliament, never accepted such a proposal.

Referring to the generous corruption of the government to its subordinates, Raghfar states that the governments, one after the other, ‘gave the country’s mineral resources to friends and comrades’ within the three decades after the war and did not receive any taxes from them.

Raghfar adds that the people’s share of these ‘beloved’ should be taken, but there is no will do so, otherwise, the solutions to the budget deficit are very clear.

He adds that today the country’s large mines are owned by non-taxable government’s ‘beloved’ and none of these companies and individuals have productive activities but produce natural resources that belong to all segments of the Iranian people, but they try to keep these cases hidden from view.

The people and the society should not find out about this situation and this secrecy should continue because, in this way, they can pocket huge resources.

Raghfar announces the amount of tax evasion of the power entities as 50 trillion tomans and adds that this tax evasion is not a small number, so why is this amount of tax evasion not stopped?

Referring to the 50 trillion toman tax evasion, Raghfar states that no tax exemptions are reported in this regime and add that when presenting the 2021 budget to the parliament, the government was asked to announce the number of tax exemptions, but the government has not taken any action.

Raghfar argues that part of the institutions and private companies owned by those in power are tax-exempt and pay only 2% tax instead of 20%.

Iranian Government Continues To Violate Nuclear Deal Commitments

Mehdi Hosseini
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Iranian Government Continues To Violate Nuclear Deal Commitments

The Iranian regime has backtracked on its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by refusing to allow United Nations inspectors to repair the monitoring equipment at their nuclear facilities, despite agreeing to the request two weeks prior.

According to the Director-General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, the regime’s decision to ban UN inspectors from the TESA Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop ‘is contrary to the agreed terms of the joint statement issued on 12 September’.

Grossi traveled to Tehran in mid-September and reached an agreement with the Iranian regime to proceed with the overdue servicing of its equipment in nuclear facilities. The agreement was meant to avoid further tensions with the international community ahead of the meeting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors and create the grounds to resume negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.”

The regime has continued to deceive the IAEA at every turn in an attempt to hide their nuclear activities. They have declined to answer questions about traces of uranium that were found at three undeclared facilities and have refused to adhere to the 2015 nuclear deal agreement to reduce their stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

This is just one of a series of recent events that have proven the Iranian regime’s unwillingness to resolve issues surrounding its nuclear program.

Earlier this month, the IAEA issued a report warning the international community of the regime’s growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium, as well as their lack of cooperation in regards to the maintenance of the monitoring equipment at their nuclear facilities.

Grossi stated in a report in August that the inspectors he had sent to Tehran had confirmed that the regime had then produced 200 grams of 20 percent enriched uranium metal. Two months earlier, during a convention of the IAEA board of governors, he had warned that the regime’s unwillingness to answer their questions seriously affects the ability of the IAEA to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program’.

In February, IAEA inspectors confirmed that the regime had produced 3.6 grams of uranium metal at the Isfahan nuclear plant. The regime claims that it needs highly enriched uranium for civilian purposes.

European members of the 2015 nuclear deal, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have stated their concern over the regime’s production of the uranium metal and confirmed that Iran does not need it for civilian purposes. Instead, it is a ‘key step in the development of a nuclear weapon’.

In his recent speech to the UN General Assembly, Raisi reiterated that his regime would not come under compliance with the JCPOA until all sanctions were lifted. He made no mention of his regime’s dangerous stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

The reality is that the Iranian government has been deceiving the world by hiding its nuclear program, all the while, the international community’s only method of trying to curb their activities is by granting concessions or by showing complacency.

Any agreement that does not completely close down the regime’s bomb-making, enrichment, and nuclear facilities is unacceptable from the view of the Iranian people.

Iran’s Killer Judges, Responsible for Murder and Forced Disappearance of Political Prisoners

Hoshang Amiri
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Iran’s Killer Judges, Responsible for Murder and Forced Disappearance of Political Prisoners

In the world of Iran’s criminal officials, people like Afshin Mohammadi Darreh Shouri are committing more crimes in dirty competition to reach higher levels and gain more power and wealth.

Afshin Mohammadi Darreh Shouri, an infamous human rights violator, who has bestowed on himself the title of a doctor, an event that has become a ridicule common act in Iran’s ruling class, by many officials while having even not a diploma or university educations, is the person who has approved and finally signed the court verdict for Navid Afkari’s execution. He had also threatened political prisoner Shahin Nasseri with death many times.

He is currently the Deputy Prosecutor of Shiraz. Confirmation and signature of investigator Afshin Mohammadi Darreh Shouri in the final order of Branch 10 of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Criminal Affairs and Security Crimes in Shiraz, eventually led to the issuance of the second death sentence for Navid Afkari by Judge Mahmoud Sadati.

Mohammadi Darreh Shouri has been involved in cases against political and security prisoners for several years as an investigator in Branch 10 of the Special Court for Criminal Affairs and Security Crimes in Shiraz.

Due to these services in favor of the regime’s human rights violations, in mid-July of 2021, he was appointed as the Deputy Prosecutor of Shiraz.

Mohammadi Darreh Shouri is the same person who repeatedly threatened Shahin Naseri with death and threatened to kill him personally. Dissidents believe he is responsible for the ambiguous death of political prisoner Shahin Naseri.

The newly murdered prisoner, Shahin Naseri, had said: “Interrogator Afshin Mohammadi asked me, what did you see in the police station, that you want to testify here? ‘ I began to explain everything I had seen – the torture of Navid Afkari. The interrogator cut off my speech in a very bad tone, insulting and threatening me, and said, you are interfering in a security case, I will make life a living hell for you.”

It is because of these ‘good deeds’ to the regime that he was praised and favored by the repressive groups of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, and they wrote a letter of appreciation to him:

“Jihadi groups commanding the good and forbidding the evil of the anonymous martyrs and the custodian of the martyrs by sending and delivering letters of support to the esteemed head of the judiciary, Hojjatoleslam Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei and the director-general of justice of Fars province Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Kazem Mousavi, announced their thanks and support of the valuable actions of the anti-corruption judge, Dr. Afshin Mohammadi Darreh Shouri, the Honorable Deputy Public Prosecutor and the head of the Shiraz Criminal and Security Prosecutor’s Office and called for a decisive investigation into corruption cases without any tolerance as before.”

Reminder:

Shahin Naseri, a witness to the torture of Navid Afkari, Iran’s wrestling champion who was executed in Iran on September 12, 2020, died under suspicious circumstances at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary.

Shahin Naseri’s brother confirmed the news and said: “His friends told us that he was killed in solitary confinement. But no official has contacted us yet.”

A source close to Naseri’s family said: “A few days ago, coinciding with the first anniversary of the execution of Navid Afkari, he (Shahin) was transferred from the hall where he was held at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary (GTP) to an unknown location. We thought he had been transferred to a security agency because he had been repeatedly threatened by security officials to remain silent about the Afkari brothers‘ case, but a few days ago we found out that he was being held in GTP. Shahin Naseri had no underlying illness, and his abrupt death is quite suspicious.”

In October 2019, Shahin Naseri filed a signed statement with the judiciary in which he said when he was brought into the police station in Shiraz in late September 2018 (soon after Afkari’s arrest), he saw Afkari being severely beaten by two plain-clothed men with a metal bar and a baton, cursing and telling him to confess to their version of the murder of a security guard in August 2018.

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