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Iran: 358 Protests in September

Staff Writer
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Iran: 358 Protests in September

There were 358 recorded protests across Iran in September, according to Iranian Resistance, which is an average of 12 protests a day.

The protests, which took place in 87 cities, show an 8% increase in the number of protests compared with the 331 that took place in August.

Most of the September protests were over economic grievances, featuring workers and pensioners demanding their missed payments, with some holding protests for several consecutive days and some traveling to Tehran to take their protest to the parliament.

September protest breakdown:

  • Workers: 217 protests in 58 cities
  • Pensioners: 26 protests in 18 cities
  • Teachers: 14 protests in three cities
  • Students: 11 protests in seven cities
  • Farmers: six protests in four cities
  • Prisoners: six protests and five hunger strikes in five cities
  • Defrauded creditors: four protests in three cities
  • Truck drivers: one protest
  • Other sectors: 78 protests in 37 cities

Even regime officials and state-run media are beginning to acknowledge that major protests are imminent, with Head of the Security and Law Enforcement Department Hossein Zolfaghar saying that calls for protests have increased three-fold in the past year and the state-run daily Ebtekar saying that the public doesn’t trust the regime.

The paper wrote: “It seems that for various reasons, Hassan Rouhani is distancing himself from the people and society. But he and his advisors do not mention that this could be the end of people’s trust toward the state. They do not realize what consequences this behavior could have… The president’s advisors who are well-experienced intelligence men” should take note of “what has happened since November 2019 until today.”

Iran’s 2020 Budget, in Support of Suppression and Corruption

This was at the beginning of the month. By late September, the state-run media were warning that the people’s widespread mistrust of the mullahs would lead to nationwide protests because the regime was ignoring their demands.

Iranian political strategist Saeed Hajjarian even admitted that the people had a right not to trust the mullahs, pointing out that hatred of the clerics was a unifying factor for most Iranians. While regime-affiliated university professor Bijan Abdolkarimi said that the divide between the people and the mullahs was being exacerbated by officials who refuse to pay attention to public demands and that this would lead to regime overthrow.

He said: “We will definitely see more of [the November 2019 style] protests… I think the political power in the country has not been able to meet the people’s demands.”

Long Steps Towards the Greekization of Iran’s Economy

Shahin Mahmoudi
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Long Steps Towards the Greekization of Iran’s Economy

Iran under the Hassan Rouhani administration hit all records and placed as the first administration in the economic crises term throughout the whole Islamic Republic history. He has raised huge and astronomical debts more than any previous administration, and in the field of rising inflation and liquidity, none of them can match his record.

The negative economic growth of the 2000s, much of which was in the hands of the government which rose from the “reformist faction,” has been a disgrace. The completely wrong and irresponsible management in the face of coronavirus has also left thousands of dead and poor people in the country.

One of the most important tasks that Rouhani has mentioned in his record is the issuance of bonds for administration financing. The total number of financial bonds approved in the budget bill and bonds that have been published with the agreement of the Supreme Economic Coordination Council reaches 2.3 quadrillion rials [$7.66 billion]. The issuance of this volume of securities means that the administration must allocate higher amounts at the time of the annual maturity to pay the principal and interest on the securities.

Why Is the Iranian Economy Failing?

Rouhani’s administration has resorted to high taxes to cover deficits and its expenditures, transferring administration property at low prices, and most recently, selling shares of state-owned companies in the stock market, which play the role of a piggy bank for the administration’s spending and financing bankrupt companies.

However, perhaps the most destructive economic actions of the Twelfth Administration have been to sell more debts and turning to a ‘Ponzi Game’. Selling bonds to repay previous debts, selling even more of these bonds to pay off new debts, and the growing interest of these bonds, which are a serious threat to the Greekization of the Iranian economy.

Selling the Future of the Next Generations by the ‘Ponzi Game’

“According to the laws contained in this year’s budget bill, the administration can issue 800 trillion rials [$2.66 billion]of financial securities. Due to the special economic situation, the Supreme Economic Coordination Council issued a permit to issue 1.5 quadrillion rials [$5 billion] of surplus securities to increase the total marketable securities of the administration to 2.3 quadrillion rials [$7.66 billion]. Many deny the importance of financing from here and believe that this approach has no result other than selling the future,” according to Jahan-e Sanat daily on October 7.

With the extreme use of the sale of bonds, the administration enters the cycle of the Ponzi game and in order to repay the principal and interest of these bonds at maturity, it is forced to issue new bonds, which naturally have a higher interest rate. In this way, over time, the debt burden will only increase, and we will see an administration debt crisis in the coming years.

Government-linked experts believe that the path taken by the Rouhani administration is the same as that taken by the Greeks two decades ago which led to bankruptcy. They owed so much that they had no choice but to surrender to the creditors. One of the important indicators in this field is the ratio of debts to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which according to the estimates of the Parliamentary Research Center is projected to be between 60 and 74 percent in the coming years.

According to official statistics on the debt of the administration and state-owned companies last year, this figure has reached over 10 trillion rials [$33.3 million].

“Administration debt reached 5 quadrillion rials [$16.6 billion] by the end of September 2019. Also, the debt of state-owned companies has increased to 5.25 quadrillion rials [$17.5 billion]. In total, the debt of the administration and state-owned companies reaches 10.25 quadrillion rials [$36.165 billion],” according to Eghtesad Online website on June 23.

An economic expert from the rival faction to Rouhani said to him: “We warn the system of fundamental decisions that this path, that is relying on foreign currency and rial debts, puts us on the path of the swamp. This process of advancing in the swamp will create a dangerous path for us,” ILNA news agency wrote on January 6.

Iran’s ‘Economic Collapse’ Has Not Happened So Far!

How State-owned Companies Are Devouring Iranian Economy

Pooya Stone
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How State-owned Companies Are Devouring Iranian Economy

Over the past four decades, state-owned companies have devoured 70 percent of Iran’s total budget. Nonetheless, despite their ability to cover the entire budget deficit, the profits are absorbed by corrupt government institutes and officials.

In Iran, state-owned companies are a huge source of the government’s assets. While these companies receive more than two-thirds of the total budget, rulers deliberately overlook the profits of these valuable sources that are able to resolve part of the country’s economic problems. For many years, the status of state-owned corporations’ annual returns and profits are vague, which has dampened the public’s attention and MPs from this major source of income in the country’s public budget.

State-Owned Companies Alone Can Compensate All Budget Deficit

Government-linked economic experts estimate the government can compensate all the country’s budget deficit by using profits of state-owned corporations. This would make it possible to save all revenue of selling crude oil and natural-gas condensate in the country’s National Development Fund. In addition, the government can spend all the income of taxes for national civil affairs. However, all these figures and stats are abstract due to the hidden corruption in the public’s budget and other avenues that influential sides use to line their pockets.

Iran’s Budget Is Still in the Air

Notably, Iran’s annual budget is divided into parts; first, the public budget assigned to the current expenditure of the country like operations of development or transportation, and second, the budget allocated to companies, government-linked banks, and other institutions affiliated to the government.

70 Percent of Budget Bill Hasn’t been Scrutinized for Decades

Corporate budgeting has consistently accounted for 70 percent of the country’s total budget over the past 40 years. However, a few members of the parliament have thoroughly scrutinized companies’ budgets before being approved. In this regard, the Iranian parliament initially examines the public budget for a long period, but when it comes to the state-run companies’ budget, they pass the bill in minutes and with very little scrutiny. Long negligence over the government-corporate assets resulted in wasting a huge amount of the country’s wealth. Of course, officials and their relatives never neglected this uncountable property.

Corruption in Iran Exposed Again 

The Budget of the State-Owned Companies Equals to the Value of Tehran’s Stock Exchange

The value of Tehran’s Stock Exchange is estimated at little more than 15 billion rials [almost $1,153 billion]. Significantly, the annual budget of the hundreds of government-run companies that are active in all economic fields is approximately the same value. Undoubtedly, a normal state can certainly provide all the budget expenditure by using the profits of these corporations. Furthermore, it would be able to annually pay parts of these profits to the people.

Despite the Iranian government owning huge properties in the form of firms, companies, banks, and institutes; but it always suffers from massive budget deficits. The people also witness officials attempting to tie the country’s fate to exporting oil or to offset their economic mismanagement by rising taxes and at the expense of poor people. On the other hand, the government pursues to cure dire economic conditions by reducing the value of the national currency or selling the administration’s properties, which results in the creation of public debts.

However, Iran’s budget planning needs to fundamentally change and, of course, this is the result of 40-year mismanagement by different sides of the governing system.

Budget Planning in Accordance with Corruption and Nepotism

Turbulence in balance sheets of the Central Bank and other Iranian banks is one of many economic problems that the country faces. This problem is a direct result of the terrible designing of the budget by the country’s planning and budget organization for decades. According to experts’ remarks, it is possible that state-run companies provide the public budget by using their huge profits. However, this matter is available on conditions including transparency and ending vast inadequacies made by corruption and nepotism.

Endless Corruption in Iran

Now, while the Iranian government experiences the impact of maximum economic pressures, it should make tough decisions. However, it is a genuine dilemma before officials about opting for the continuation of the current corrupt system that spells more pressure on poor people who struggle hard to make ends meet; or acquiesce to calls for being transparent with the people and the international financing system.

It is previously evident that Iranian authorities have no potential to counter the vast corruption and nepotism that have grown by themselves and under their supervision during all these years. In addition, they cannot explore the amount of mind-blowing expenditure they spend on funding ethnic conflicts and supporting terrorist entities in the region. Insofar as the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah admitted that all needs of this “party” are provided by the Islamic Republic. The government also cannot be transparent over the costs of oppressive apparatus as well as the nuclear bomb-making programs that left the country under the toughest sanctions.

Iran’s Mysterious State-Owned Companies

Contrary to the term “state-owned,” these companies are absolutely unaccountable, and no oversight employs them. In fact, these corporations are suffering from rivalry among the powerful parts of the political elite. Their hierarchy is set based on nepotism and then rulers’ vows, as well as these firms, are truly a field for economic competition among different political sides.

In such circumstances, no one knows what practically happens inside these mysterious companies. And if someone sheds light on the matter, they will discover untold stories of ongoing infighting in the governing system, including the manner of appointing managers, the amount of power hidden players wield, and ultimately whether these companies are serving the country or parts of the government against national interests?

Was FATF Able to End the Opaque Economic Situation in Iran?

In late 2019, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tried to tie the fate of Iran’s economy to joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In this context, FATF in parallel with discussion over the 2020-21 budget bill constituted the core of power competition in the country among officials and during parliament sessions. Regardless of the Iranian government sponsoring terrorism in the region and across the globe, the ayatollahs showed they cannot join the inter-governmental body because of vast corruption and non-transparency engulfing the country’s companies and facilities.

With or Without FATF Approval, Iran’s Economic Crisis Won’t Be Resolved

Therefore, opposite to claims raised by Rouhani’s allies describing joining the FATF as an extraordinary opportunity to rescue the country from collapse, the reality is that more than disruption in banking communications with the global banking system, the country is suffering from a corrupt system and mismanagement. However, Iran’s theocracy could not refrain from “exporting the revolution” that sank the country in intense problems. Just as they cannot renounce their nuclear bomb-making projects that led the international community to impose restrictions on Iran, in addition to reimposing the U.S. sanctions.

In conclusion, as the Iranian government bears economic pressures, of course, at the expense of the people, but the main problem is not foreign sanctions or restrictions. In fact, this corrupt system that relies on nepotism and wide mismanagement that is institutionalized among the ayatollahs and their relatives is cancer that places the country’s economy on the brink of absolute collapse. Notably, the Iranian people emphasized they are suffering from embezzlements, fraud, and plundering directed by the shareholders of political power. In this regard, people’s slogans are very meaningful. “One less embezzlement can resolve our [economic] problem,” or “The people are poor but the Ayatollah [referring to the supreme leader Ali Khamenei] lives like the Lord,” citizens chant frequently.

Iran: Khamenei’s Lieutenants Order Their Thugs to Carry Out Acid Attacks

Jubin Katiraie
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Iran: Khamenei’s Lieutenants Order Their Thugs to Carry Out Acid Attacks

Looking at the faces of the victims of acid attacks in Iran under the clerical rule is a diagram of the oppression of Iranian women.

Imagine for a second the amount of oppression on every Iranian, when it reaches women, it multiplies. On the one hand, the Iranian woman as a citizen is tolerating the oppression that is inflicted on every Iranian under the rule of the mullahs, on the other hand, she bears the burden of double oppression for being a woman and bears it on her psyche.

Women in Iran do not have security in schools, offices, taxis, subways, buses, streets, and even at home, and constantly breathe in an atmosphere of threats, discrimination, crime, and stress. This is what Iranian women face every day.

Talking about the extent and dimensions of the double oppression of Iranian women is beyond the scope of this article and requires an open discussion, but what temporarily worries the society as an urgent issue and stirs the souls of the people is the criminal fatwa of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representatives, as the ring leaders of the regime’s Friday shows in the cities of Isfahan and Bojnourd.

On October 2, on of the regime’s clerics, Yousef Tabatabai met with the Deputy Chief of Intelligence and Security of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the regime and the Commander of the Police Force of Isfahan Province, referring to the women whom he called ‘norm-breakers’. He said:

“The atmosphere of the society should be made insecure for these people, who are also few in number, and they should not be allowed to break the norms easily in the streets and parks … The police should be given more authority to confronting breaking the norms and breaking the law. We should not be afraid that if we deal with violators, they will take hostile action against us.”

It is interesting that on the same date, Abolghasem Yaghoubi, the Friday prayer leader and representative of Khamenei in North Khorasan, also said:

“The law enforcement forces must make the lives of the rioters who have evil intentions in their minds insecure. The phenomenon of bad hijab and lack of hijab in society is like a virus among the people and it must be confronted. In addition to the police and the judiciary, to deal with the lack of hijab, people should also get involved in this matter and be moral polices. Therefore, we must be sensitive to non-coronaviruses.”

Iran’s Government Fails to Tackle the Coronavirus

Yousef Tabatabai had made similar statements in 2011: “The issue of hijab is beyond just a mention and in order to deal with bad hijab, one should raise club and use force.”

He also said: “If someone does something in public, it must be stopped, because unrestrained it causes harm to others. Some believe that coercion is not necessary for society and should be introduced through culture, but you cannot do anything with advice alone.”

His statement caused a wave of acid attacks on the women in Isfahan, and this issue caused the city of Isfahan and consequently the whole of Iran to be in shock and astonishment.

The coincidence of the criminal fatwas of the two representatives of the Supreme Leader and the use of the common code of ‘making insecure’ shows that there is a clear policy of repression of the regime.

But in fear of the consequences of such fatwas by the regime’s clerics, the state-run daily Hamdeli on 6 October wrote: “Two days after the sixth anniversary of the acid attack on the girls of Isfahan, and while the perpetrators of this crime have not yet been arrested, the Friday prayer leader of Isfahan, in controversial statements, called for the make the society insecure for the women he considers as unveiled (having a bad hijab).”

But the truth is that this time Iran’s supreme leader and his representatives are miscalculating. From 2011 until now, there have been dramatic changes in Iran. The state of society is now explosive. When it comes to explosives, everyone knows that the regime’s first mistake can be its last.

Iran’s Islamists terrorise young women with acid

Iranian Rights Groups Reveal the Names of November Victims

Staff Writer
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Iranian Rights Groups Reveal the Names of November Victims

Nearly a year after the nationwide November uprising, Iran Human Rights Monitor has managed to confirm the identities of 20 protesters killed as they fled in Mahshahr marshland by security forces.

Using eyewitness testimonies and other credible sources, Iran HRM has identified:

  • Ahmad Rouhanifar
  • Abbas Ansarian
  • Ali Jelveh
  • Alireza Ghanavati
  • Asghar Rajaei
  • Amir Boushehri
  • Ehsan Sadeghi
  • Hassan Veisi
  • Homayoun Dashti
  • Hayawi Sharifat
  • Jaber Saberi
  • Jafar Panahi
  • Jamshid Malahan
  • Javad Payabi
  • Javad Nezarat
  • Kamran Davari
  • Kourosh Ahwazi
  • Mojtaba Rezaei
  • Mohsen Sarafraz
  • Mershad Dehi

There were almost 100 people killed in the marsh on November 18, 2019, as the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members shot blindly into the area with heavy machine guns.

New Report by Javaid Rehman: Iran’s IRGC, Basij, and Police Opened Deadly Fire on Protesters

The majority of those killed were unarmed young men, but some were women and children. They had been holding a peaceful protest when the IRGC stormed Chamran township and blocked the roads to the rest of Mahshahr, so they ran for the marsh with the hope of hiding.

Overall, the state security forces shot dead at least 1,500 peaceful protesters in the crackdown on nationwide protests, while thousands more were wounded and yet more were arrested. Some were even arrested in the hospital and taken directly to prison without treatment. Some of those arrested were tortured to death, executed, forcibly disappeared, or are still being held without trial or charge. Relatives are being kept in the dark about the fate of many missing protesters.

This is a clear example of a crime against humanity committed by the government against its own people, for which the mullahs must be held to account. On September 2, Amnesty International exposed parts of tortures and ill-treatment that interrogators and judicial officials practiced against detainees. Several arrested protesters were compelled to confess what they had not committed, which filed and used against them in Revolutionary Courts.

Amnesty International: Iran Uses Torture as Punishment

Iran HRM wrote: “The UN Security Council, world governments and the international community [must] take urgent action to immediately halt the murder and suppression of the protesters. We urge the United Nations to quickly dispatch fact-finding missions to Iran. Iranian leaders must face justice for perpetrating crimes against humanity and the Iran protests massacre. Silence and inaction are both a violation of international conventions, laws, and standards, and embolden the government to continue its crimes.”

Over the past 11 months, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has managed to identify 811 martyrs of the uprising, naming a further 56 last month.

NCRI President Maryam Rajavi urged the international community to do something now to save political prisoners’ lives. She advised establishing an international commission to investigate the massacre, visit prisons, and meet prisoners.

The Dire Situation of Teachers in Iran

Jubin Katiraie
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The Dire Situation of Teachers in Iran

To mark World Teachers’ Day, which was on Monday, we will examine the status of Iranian teachers.  

It will not surprise you to learn that teachers in Iran are undervalued and underpaid by the government, especially when you consider that compared to other professions there is a high number of women employed, but some of these other facts are shocking. 

Job Contracts and Classifications 

The only teachers considered officially employed are those who were hired by the Education Ministry, which most are not. Instead, they are hired by private intermediary businesses on temporary contracts, which are exploited by officials, so that these teachers receive below the minimum wage, do not get any benefits, including insurance, do not get bonuses, and are prevented from getting overtime pay. Unlike official teachers, they have short contracts and can be dismissed easily, but they also will not get paid over the holidays or during unexpected closures. 

This is despite the fact that the public school system could not run without them. 

Paychecks

On that note, let’s talk about the money that teachers get. As mentioned, contract teachers are hired by private companies who are paid by the Education Ministry and then give the teachers a small stipend. Their wages cannot meet their basic needs, with many working for less than one dollar per day, even those with years of experience. Because of this, teachers must get second or third jobs, especially because the government doesn’t take the high inflation rate into account when determining salaries. 

One teacher said: “Outsourcing teachers have been cooperating with the Education Ministry since 2009. They have B.S., M.S., and even doctorate degrees but teach in public high schools. Their salaries are the lowest. They receive about 30,000-80,000 rials [$0.1-0.25] for every hour. This means that they earn between 240,000-300,000 rials [$0.8-1] for 8 hours of teaching in one day.” 

The outsourced teachers in some provinces have not even been paid for two years and in others earn less than the janitor, even though most teachers are the heads of the household. But they cannot complain, or they will not be hired for the next year. 

Education Ministry official Alireza Kamarei said that by not paying the salaries of the teachers, officials have saved 1.62 trillion rials [$4.2 million], in much the same way that you can save money on your grocery shop by just walking out without paying. 

The problems of teachers have been exacerbated by the coronavirus as now they have to pay for their own internet to work from home. 

Iranian Teachers Protest Entrance Exams

Wasting Iranian People’s Wealth on Proxy Wars and Terrorist Acts

Esmaeil Mohades
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Wasting Iranian People’s Wealth on Proxy Wars and Terrorist Acts

Upon his arrival in Iran and appointed in 1979, Iranian first supreme leader and the Islamic Republic founder Ruhollah Khomeini brought with war and enmity for the Iranian people and Iran’s neighbors and other countries of the region. He frequently described the war as a ‘divine blessing’ and affirmed the continuation of the war, saying, ‘war until removing sedition around the world.’

So far, hundreds of thousands of young people in this country have become the victims of the state’s wars. In addition, thousands of citizens of Iran’s neighbors have been burned in the fires of wars waged by proxy groups of the Velayat-e Faqih (supreme religious) rule.

Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen are still burning in the fire of sedition that Iran’s mullahs and their Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) have ignited in these countries. Today, after all these fruitless wars that have wasted only human resources and blood, the voices of those who inevitably come to their senses because they are smelling the end of the theocracy and now they have come to their sense.

Iran’s Asymmetric Warfare 

The Negative Impact of Proxy Wars on the Economic Situation of the Iranian People

In the July 21 edition of Diplomacy Irani daily, Qasim Mohebba-Ali, former Director-General for the Middle East at the Iranian Foreign Ministry criticized Tehran’s forty-year-old foreign policy with a focus on increasing tensions with neighbors. He also affirmed that the people have paid a heavy price for it.

“At present, the cost of this type of foreign policy in Tehran is borne by the people with the focus on increasing tensions with neighbors. If you look at the situation of the foreign exchange, coin, housing, car, rent, and even consumer goods markets in the country, you will see that part of these challenges is due to our severely wrong view of foreign policy in the region and the world,” he added.

Mohebba-Ali also enumerated the harmful economic consequences for the Iranian people and warned the leaders over the anger of the people and their protests at any moment.

Iran’s Social Situation Is a Ticking Time Bomb

“Now the heavy price of this kind of forty years of wrong politics and diplomacy in the region and the world is being paid by the people with all their flesh and blood, and their entire existence. Therefore, with the increase of economic and livelihood problems inside, pursuing our wrong diplomacy will definitely not be as safe and riskless as in the past. Because at any moment, it is possible to see a massive protest inside the country by breaking the threshold of people’s tolerance for economic problems,” Mohebba-Ali concluded.

On May 20, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, former chair of the Parliament (Majlis) National Security and Foreign Affairs Commission, revealed parts of Iran’s heavy expenditure in Syria. He complained about the management of the wars and the interventions of the government in the region, pointing to a part of the costs of these unbridled development demands and said:

“We gave maybe $20-30 billion to Syria and we have to get it back from Syria. The money of this nation has been spent there.”

Ali Fadavi, the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, said on the TV program ’14th Century’ on September 27, that according to the official report of the Iran Program and Budget Organization prepared at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Iran has spent ‘$19.6 billion’ on this war.

It should be noted that Rahim Safavi, Khamenei’s military adviser in 2017, had said that in the eight-year war, Iran ‘spent a maximum of 12 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the war.’

This share of GDP amounts to more than $21 billion annually and reaches $173 billion during the total war years, which is several times more than Fadavi’s claims. Former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani repeatedly claimed that the damage from the war with Iraq is estimated at more than $1,000 billion. But if we take into account the calculations of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, which was prepared in 1991, we again reach the figure of $97 billion of war damages for the Iranian people.

Another area of wasting the wealth of the Iranian people is in terror acts. Like the latest decision by a U.S. judge, who has ordered Iran to pay $1.45 billion to the family of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who is presumed to have died in the custody of this government.

Or the order of the federal judge in Washington on September 10, 2018, which ordered Iran to pay $104.7 million to victims of a June 1996 truck bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. military personnel, as Reuters reported at that time. Examples of such decisions to compensate for the damages because of the ayatollahs’ terror acts are many.

Who Was Qasem Soleimani, the Head of Iran’s IRGC Qods Force Terror Group?

It’s Time EU Act on Iran’s Human Rights Violations, Iran’s Opposition Calls for It

Pooya Stone
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It’s Time EU Act on Iran’s Human Rights Violations, Iran’s Opposition Calls for It

An online conference at the EU parliament hosted by the Iranian opposition NCRI calls on the EU to condemn the Human rights violation in Iran. In this event, dozens of MEPs joined to give their solutions to condemn the Human rights violation in Iran. This is while Iran’s government is benefiting from the silence about its Human rights violations such a torture, rape, killing of political prisoners, beatings, and killings of dissidents and other civilians, discrimination of women and the minorities, execution of offenders under 18 years of age, choking the freedom of speech and repressing the press. The list of the regime’s human rights violation is as long as its 40 years of rule.

Now the EU should put its appeasement policy aside and stand alongside the Iranian people for a free and democratic Iran. Below is a summary of the MEPs’ speeches on this event.

Juan Fernando López Aguilar, MEP from Spain, “Iranian women face discrimination. Iranian law denies freedom of religion. We have a political and legal duty to stand up for human rights in Iran.”

Rasa Juknevičienė, MEP from Lithuania, “Iran’s people don’t want this regime and are vehemently opposed to it. On the other hand, a powerful alternative exists, meaning that change in Iran is imminent. What should our policy be in Europe vis-à-vis Iran’s regime? We must stand by the Iranian people as doing so is defending our democratic principles. must stand firm against the regime.”

Jan Zahradil, MEP from the Czech Republic, “We’re at a crucial point in history. The region is unstable. We must push the EU and Borrell to change their policy. EU must not just watch. It must act. We can also take measures at the national level.”

Gianna Gancia, MEP from Italy, “It is so vital to put pressure on Iran’s regime to open the gates of its dungeons to an international fact-finding mission. Therefore, I insist that this is an obligation of the EU.”

Veronika Vrecionová, MEP from the Czech Republic, “As we speak about Iran, we witnessed the execution of Navid Afkari. Iran’s regime is spreading hatred & terrorism in the world. I support Iran’s people who want freedom and justice in their country.”

Marco Zanni, MEP from Italy, “Iran’s regime has a horrible record of human rights abuses. The execution of Navid Afkari is the latest manifestation of the Iran regime’s cruelty. The regime has total disregard for humanitarian standards.”

Milan Zver, MEP from Slovenia, “The operations of Iran’s security forces on EU soil are also of great concern & needed to be stopped. I strongly condemn any acts of violence committed by Iran’s regime. It’s our duty to stand by the people of Iran.”

Ivan Štefanec, MEP from Slovakia, “Our European democratic principles demand that the EU takes the lead in defending the Iranian people’s human rights and protesting against Iran’s regime for its atrocities.”

Derk Jan Eppink, MEP from the Netherlands, “I was shocked by the execution of Navid Afkari for his participation in Iran protests. Unfortunately, we are witnessing the EU appeasement policy with Iran. The result is an ever-more aggressive regime.”

Benoît Biteau, MEP from France, “Iran is the first state in terms of executions per capita. We cannot close our eyes to the events in Iran. Imprisoned protesters in Iran must be freed. I will continue to denounce executions in Iran.”

Patrizia Toia, MEP from Italy, “We demand an international inquiry to visit Iranian prisoners. We must make sure human rights are number one where other countries are concerned. We must give priority to human rights rather than economic interests.”

Alessandra Moretti, MEP from Italy, “Women can’t travel alone, can’t go to stadiums, can’t choose who to marry. One hundred women have been executed during [regime President Hassan] Rouhani’s tenure. There is no respect for individual rights. Our fight to abolish the death penalty is not just to save lives.”

Stanislav Polčák, MEP from the Czech Republic, “In our view, if the European Union is not at the forefront of this issue, it has trampled upon European democratic principles. We have been criticizing and protesting against the policy of the EU in this parliament for more than a decade, and now, as we approach an imminent social explosion in Iran, we want this disagreement to reach closure. Nothing justifies wanting to tolerate and appease the regime. Today, appeasement with this brutal regime is a disgrace to the EU and against the security of Europe, and we warn that the EU must seriously reconsider its policy towards this regime. The EU is at a crossroads.”

Hermann Tertsch, MEP from Spain: “We don’t want any appeasement which is so dear to some forces here in this parliament. We want no appeasement with this dictatorship, with this tyrannical regime in Teheran. We want a very resolute search for an end of this regime and for a peaceful and democratic Iran in the future. That’s the right of Iranians and that is a right which we have the pride and that we are obliged to fight for it here in Europe and all over the Democratic West.”

Lars Patrick Berg, MEP from Germany, “It is time for action by the world’s democratic governments. Words of condemnation are not enough; We need concrete actions. We in Europe must show to the Iranian people that we support their fight for freedom and democracy and continue to urge the international community to bring pressure on the unrepresentative regime of the mullahs.”

Iran: Human Rights Situation in September 2020

Jubin Katiraie
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Iran: Human Rights Situation in September 2020

As with every month, Iran Human Rights Monitor has created a detailed report on Iran’s human rights abuses and we will summarise it. The issues discussed involve the coronavirus pandemic, the overreach of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), terrorizing the public, executions, torture, persecution of religious minorities, and suppression of the Iranian people.

Iran: Human Rights Situation for August 2020

Given that anti-regime protests have sprung up across the country in spite of the pandemic, the mullahs are trying every method possible to keep people off the streets, from installing IRGC Bassij hit squads in almost all neighborhoods to frightening people by executing or torturing political prisoners to seemingly deliberately mismanaging the coronavirus.

In September alone, at least 21 people were executed, including:

  • protester and wrestler Navid Afkari, who was the subject of an international campaign to save his life when he was suddenly executed, prompting suggestions that he died under torture
  • juvenile offender Mo’ayyed Savari, who was arrested and charged at age 17
  • Mo’in Salavarzi Zadeh, 55, whose sentence has not been upheld for the past 29 years before suddenly the Supreme Court ruled on September 7, without the presence of Salavarzi Zadeh or his lawyer

The regime also ordered the barbaric sentence of finger amputation for four men – Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Sharfian, Mehdi Shahivand, and Kasra Karami – who had been forced to confess under torture. In protest to the initial sentence in June, Rostami cut his wrists.

Seven Iranians Sentenced to Amputations and Flogging for Theft

The persecution of religious minorities continued, with at least three cases of Sunni citizens and clerics being arrested and interrogated merely for practicing their faith, as well as 35 Baha’is, and six Christian converts.

In related news, the regime took two-year-old Lydia away from her adoptive parents, Maryam Falahi and Sam Khosravi, who she has been with since she was three months old because they are Christians and her biological parents were Muslim. This is despite the fact that Lydia has heath problems that mean she is unlikely to be adopted again.

In other criminal acts, the regime is also seeking to terrify the people into submission by parading dissidents through the streets. They’ve also ordered that evacuation of six border villages in Kurdistan province with no plan to help the people avoid homelessness, opened fire on citizens in Likak after they objected to the beating of a driver, and summoned 15 Bu-Ali university students over protests held last year.

The regime should know that people are much less scared than the regime’s forces because people have nothing to lose.

Hossein Zolfaqari, the Interior Ministry’s deputy for security and order, said that calls for the protest had increased three-fold on the previous year.

He said: “There were 519 calls for protest in the first five months of the previous year, while in the same period this year, there have been 1,702 calls which is a 227 percent increase.”

Iran’s Government Faces Protests ‘On the Tarmac’

Iran State-run Media Acknowledge State Failure

Sia Rajabi
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Iran State-run Media Acknowledge State Failure

Iran’s state-run media are violating the censorship policy on a daily basis in order to acknowledge that the political and economic situation is critical and that the Iranian people’s (legitimate) anger may soon spill over into an uprising that overthrows the establishment.

The Hamdeli daily wrote on Sunday that the government is making no effort to address the demands of the people and in fact “deliberately blocking the way of answering these demands”. The article explained that the 2018 and 2019 protests sprung up because the majority of the people didn’t trust any faction of the ruling system, but that authorities have done nothing to increase trust.

They wrote: “This level of mistrust is a dangerous indicator.”

Iran Plans to Block All Messaging Apps

While the Jahan-e Sanat daily predicted further protests and said that the economic crisis was the result of the state’s dire policies, advising that the people no longer trust the Islamic Republic because of “biased and political” decisions.

On Saturday, the Mostaghel daily wrote that the state’s ongoing oppression, which caused the death by suicide of a detained protester’s father, is causing anger.

It wrote: “Learning from other countries’ experience could be helpful. [In those countries] they recognize their opponents’ right to life and then freedom of expression. Perhaps, the rulers may think that rejecting any voice of dissent is not a threat to them in power.”

While the Hamdeli daily wrote that the government should have listened to health officials over the coronavirus in order to avoid the type of mismanagement that causes 116,000 deaths by reopening the country before it is ready.

President Hassan Rouhani’s claims that Iran’s economy has done better than Germany was also torn apart by the state-run media.

The Aftab-e Yazd daily wrote that there is a “galactic distance in economic matters” between the two countries and in no way is Iran’s economy better, saying that even children laugh at Rouhani’s claim. While the Hamdeli daily compared Iran’s economic situation to the Iran-Iraq war, dismissing the idea that the problems are caused by sanctions rather than incorrect policies.

60 Million Iranians Below the Poverty Line

The Setar-e Sobh daily continued with this argument, writing: “Some people have always benefited from the country’s economic crisis and do not want to solve problems. The country’s current poor economic situation is not the result of the actions of one government and one person, but 40 years of wrong policies and ill-considered decisions have put the country in an economic crisis.”

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