News

A lot has happened over the last 6 months. I will aim to summarise here the latest and will update this regularly.

It really doesn’t take much to keep up to date with the news. Of course you should not rely on traditional news sources. They either do not report, or skew their reporting – thus are not helpful in having a full understanding of what is actually going on.

I recommend the following credible sources – whether through Twitter or Instagram:

@1500Tasvir_en

@HRANA_English

@Hengaw_English

Statistics

9 June 2023

Freed hostages

Hostage diplomacy pays dividends for the Islamic Republic. A convicted terrorist (Assadollah Assadi) is traded for Olivier Vandecasteele (Belgian aid worker) and another three citizens (Two Austrians and a Dane). The Islamic Republic continues to hold other hostages’ lives in its hands as it negotiates to trade them in, either for other convicted terrorists, or tens billions of dollars.

More young people die

More young people die suddenly after being released from arrest. One example is Mansoureh Sagvand an 18 year old young woman who was part of the Police force. She left due to the mistreatment of people, was arrested, released, then suddenly died.

Another two students (Basir Ebrahimpour and Yusuf Sevizi) were found dead in their dormitories.

More and more are being arrested. It’s hard to report on all of these, but this is a great source: HENGAW

Executions continue unabated

142 prisoners are said to have been executed in the month of May (Average of 5 per day). 307 people have been hanged in the first 5 months of 2023, a 76% increase on last year. Close to 60% of those hanged are from poor backgrounds and have been hanged due to drug possession charges. Two people hanged were killed based on ‘blasphemy’.

President Raisi the butcher

A report which strangely has not been picked up the way it should have, is the news where a prison warden admits to the current president, Ebrahim Raisi had direct involvement in the killing of thousands (some say up to 30,000) people in the 1980s through executions by order of Khomeini.

Virgin females were raped and ‘married’ so that they did not go to heaven.

United Nations roles

Bizarrely, the Islamic Republic is given many leadership positions at the United Nations:

• Human Rights Council Social Forum
• Vice President of UN General Assembly
• Rapporteur of the Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Committee

School girls gassed with nerve gas

Another important news story that did not make the front pages.

Toxicology studies on clothing of gassed students has shown fluoromethyl phosphate. This chemical is the common agent among many highly toxic gases such as sarin, cyclosarin, soman.

Sarin: an extremely toxic synthetic organophoshorus compund. Colourless and odourless and used a a chemical weapon because it is extremely potent. Causes death within 10 minutes of exposure due to paralysis and suffocation. Considered a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ and banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Cyclosarin: extremely toxic substance. A major nerve agent considered a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ and banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Colourless but with a sweet odour (resembling peaches).

Soman: An extremely toxic gas with a faint smell of rotten fruit or mothballs. Interferes with the nervous system. Considered a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ and banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

News to 21 May 2023

Over the last two months, the following has happened:

Chemical attacks on schools

What began as attack on school girls in November 2022 continued this year, really peaking in April 2023. Hundreds of schools were affected all over the country. Three children died as a result of the attacks. Western media’s coverage was woeful. Rather than report on this accurately and in line with the rights of children and women at the forefront of reporting, ‘experts’ were brought in that talked to the hysteria of the girls. They had of course no issue with reporting on the regime’s line of ‘investigating’ the matter.

Over 700 schools have been affected to date and many thousands of students exposed and affected. The long term impacts are unknown.

Reza Pahlavi visits Isreal

As a complete contrast to the regime’s sabre rattling or Israel, Reza Pahlavi completed a successful trip to Israel.

Wobbly coalition

The Solidarity Council set up to the ‘opposition’ outside of Iran had wobbles, with a few key members departing (Nazanin Boniadi, Hamed Esmaeilion). The longer term viability of the group is unknown.

Nationwide Strikes

In the lead up to May Day, different sectors, and most importantly the oil and gas sector went on strike. This grew to also include teachers and social security retirees.

Many many lives lost

The Islamic regime joined a horrific club – the biggest executioner in the world club. On a per capita basis, it killed more people by hanging than anywhere else in the world. The number of killings increased by 80% on last year and right now, someone is killed every 6 hours. The vast majority of these in Sistan Baluchistan and Kurdistan. They even killed a Swedish citizen Habib Chaab.

Tragically on Friday 19 May, they killed three protesters Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yagoubi.

The response from the international community? Zero – nothing. Like literally nothing.

News 17 March 2023

Things are moving so fast, that there’s a lot for me to summarise from the news related to Iran over the last week.

Girls of Ekbatan go viral

What seemed like an innocent F.U. to theocracy landed a group of young women in trouble. While their dance has gone viral, the girls themselves were hunted down, pressured to cover up and humiliatingly paraded on TV to ‘apologise’ for their sins of dancing!

Chemical attacks on school girls

The chemical attacks on school girls also continued, even if they are shamefully out of the international media spotlight. As expected the regime all of a sudden managed to arrest the ‘culprits’. A father and daughter apparently thought it would be a laugh so they did it. Again, more innocent people pressured and paraded on TV.

Meanwhile anyone that protested against the gassing or dared report on it was also promptly arrested. The regime hoping that their gassing did the trick in terrorising girls, while also flying under the international radar.

The EU parliament over the weekend passed a resolution to demand an independent investigation.

Nothing will likely actually happen.

Three nights of fire

Ushering in the new year and building on ancient traditions, this year chaharshanbe suri took on special meaning. People took to the streets to not only light fires and come together, but to also protest against the Islamic regime.

Proof that people are not going to accept going back to the way things were before.

Amnesty International releases report into torture of children by Islamic regime

“Iran’s intelligence and security forces have been committing horrific acts of torture, including beatings, flogging, electric shocks, rape and other sexual violence against child protesters as young as 12 to quell their involvement in nationwide protests, said Amnesty International today.”

What can one say about this? Why is the world still wanting to shake hands and make deals with a regime that does this to its own people? This has become so normalised that barely anyone raises an eyebrow. Shameful. LINK to article.

Execution hyperdrive and many people in jail

Despite what western media reports (which is basically reporting what the Iranian government days), 22,000 have not been released from prison. This is a talking point from the regime that ABC News in Australia reported without actually verifying anything. Even if it is true, that number is actually higher than many people had estimated to have been arrested since the start of the revolution.

Many prisoners such as Toomaj Salehi, Yasin, Niloofar Hamedi and Elaleh Mohammadi remain in jail.

Even when someone is released, like Sepideh Gholian, they are rearrested. In her case in less than 24 hours, she was abducted and back in jail. Executions are a favoured form of punishment for the Islamic Regime. More than 100 people have been executed this year alone. Just today, a political prisoner – Mohiddin Ebrahimi was executed. This cruelty knows no bounds.

Girls under chemical attack

Young women and girls have been at the forefront of this revolution. For their troubles, they are now being deliberately poisoned with chemical gas. It started three months ago in Qom where students in school became affected and later hospitalised. One girl that we know of has died.

Over the last week these attacks on girls in schools has escalated. Hundreds of girls have been poisoned through a coordinated campaign across the country. The  goal – to stop girls receiving an education and as payback for their active participation in wanting a better future for their country.

The response from the authorities is predictable – ignore, then deflect. First they ignored there was anything happening at all. The girls are stressed and women are always hysterical and can’t control their emotions. Then it’s the work of the enemy – the US and now they are ‘investigating’.

International media is covering this in the typical way too – with words like ‘mysterious’ and ‘alleged’. A BBC headline even questions the whole thing: “Are Iranian schoolgirls being poisoned by toxic gas?” which is really something in the age when some believe women have achieved equality.

What we do know is that thousands of children as young as in primary school and older in university suddenly take ill. They cannot breathe, they feel nauseous and in some cases need hospitalization. The schools’ CCTV cameras have also mysteriously stopped working. In many cases, girls talk about Basij being with the school grounds or loitering outside just before the incident. They also talk of not being let out and parents not being able to be reunited with their children. Of parents being pressured to say God knows what. But anything other than state the facts. 

Most do not believe the government’s line that they are investigating. Particularly not when the country is overrun with spies security personnel watching everyone’s every move. It is inconceivable that some backyard laboratory is creating these chemical cocktails that magically appear in girl’s schools with NOBODY knowing how, when or why.

So the sensible and probable conclusion from a government with a complete lack of empathy is that it is committing genocide and chemical warfare on its own people. What will the international community do? Ignore it like they have all the other dictators that have done the same to their people? Or finally have some spine and confront this evil?

Last 6 months

The spark

September was the kicking off of the protests. As protests grew and spread, the government cracked down as they usually do. People noted not only the geographical spread of the protests, but also the different ethnic groups and classes of society. It was noted that this felt different.

The crackdown was brutal and many protesters were killed: Nika Shakmarian (16), Sarina Esmaeilzadeh (16) , Hadis Najafi (22) to name a few.

On September 30, over 100 people were killed in Zahedan in what is now termed ‘Bloody Friday’.

Revolution

Protests continued and spread to industries like the oil and gas sector.  The government crackdown in Kurdistan escalated with Saaqez coming under increasing military control by government forces.

‘Influencers’ or those with a public profile also come out in support of the protests, to the detriment of their careers. Elnaz Rekabi, Voira Ghafouri, Amir Nasr-Azadani (sentenced to death) and Taraneh Alidoosti to name some.

Toomaj Salehi, a rapper with strong political content in his music and the voice of many people’s grievances is abducted, tortured and put in solitary confinement.

International focus continued during the Fifa World Cup where the team refused to sing the national anthem in the first game. Many activists are prevented from protesting in Qatar and back home large celebrations are seen when the team loses its matched against England and the US. 

The revolution is recognized by some international leaders, though many seem resolved to downplay them.

The international community’s reaction is mixed – making ‘supportive’ comments and taking symbolic action (like the independent investigation at the UN Rights Council and removing Iran from the UN Commission on the status of Women), but playing a ‘wait and see’ game while protests continue and people are killed.

All of this in the face of the use of executions and as means of silencing dissent. To date Mohsen Shakari (22), Majid Reza Rahnavard (23), Mehdi Karami (21) and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini (39) were all executed in quick succession. All young, athletic and tortured to give false confessions.

Winter lull

As expected, winter was a quieter time on the protests front. They didn’t stop altogether, but they did reduce in scale and frequency.