Briefing: Addressing State Atrocities Against Protesters in Iran

Recommendations for the U.S. Government and the International Community

View a PDF version of this briefing here.

View this briefing’s press release here.

LONG READ

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Since the September 16, 2022, killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by Iran’s police for “improper” hijab, Islamic Republic security forces have killed more than 200 individuals—including at least 23 children—and violently arrested thousands of peaceful protesters.[1] Influential members of civil society, who were not participating in the protests, have been rounded up and detained “preventatively.”[2] Lawyers peacefully protesting these arrests have been teargassed and arrested.[3] Dozens of school children participating in peaceful protests have been rounded up and sent to “psychological centers.”[4]

This briefing by the Center for Human Rights in Iran argues that these actions have risen to the level of crimes against humanity by the Islamic Republic and must be urgently addressed by the international community. Condemnations by individual governments and U.N. officials have had no impact and the authorities in Iran have demonstrated both a deepening pattern of lethal suppression of peaceful protest and a complete unwillingness to institute any means of internal accountability.[5] The actions detailed in this briefing, aimed at signaling a significantly strengthened and coordinated international commitment to impose meaningful costs on the Islamic Republic for its continuing abuses, include the following key recommendations:

• The nuclear deal with Iran cannot be isolated from these events and must be put on hold. A significant release of funds for the Islamic Republic will flow from this deal, which will increase the repressive capacity of the state.

• EU and European countries and other governments around the world that have diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic must forge a forceful, coordinated diplomatic response to the state’s atrocities in Iran, including jointly recalling their ambassadors for consultations and summoning Iran’s ambassadors for censure.
• The U.S. and its partners should pursue the establishment of an urgent special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) so that governments can collectively address the violence against protesters, and at this session the council should establish an independent mechanism with investigative, reporting, and accountability functions to address the Islamic Republic’s most serious crimes.

• U.N. member states should take action immediately to remove the Islamic Republic of Iran from its current membership in the Commission on the Status of Women, given the Islamic Republic’s ongoing atrocities against women and girls.

• The U.S government and its allies should vigorously pursue an urgent resolution at the U.N. General Assembly condemning in the strongest terms the atrocities committed by the authorities in Iran against peaceful protesters.

• The U.S. and other countries, especially those bordering Iran that are likely to receive Iranian refugees, should provide assistance to Iranians fleeing the Islamic Republic’s persecution, including expediting asylum cases and providing protection for those seeking asylum.
• In light of the continued state-imposed internet shutdowns in Iran aimed at blocking news of the state’s atrocities, the U.S. should provide urgent funding to ensure that companies offer, free of charge, the tools and services Iranians need to communicate with one another and the world.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran has developed these recommendations in close consultation with civil society inside Iran. The Center is in daily touch with protesters, lawyers, activists, labor leaders, journalists, teachers, students, workers, intellectuals and many others across civil society in Iran.

THE ISSUE

Escalating protests throughout Iran are being violently suppressed by the authorities.[6] Hundreds of protesters have been killed by state security forces (including many young women and children), thousands have been violently arrested, and scores of school children participating in protests have been abducted and placed in “psychological centers.”[7] These actions by the Islamic Republic have risen to the level of crimes against humanity. The potential for mass atrocities will increase as the authorities seek to reassert control.

THE CONTEXT

Protests broke out across Iran after the death in state custody of Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, three days after her arrest by the Islamic Republic’s morality police for wearing an alleged improper hijab.[8] Initially led by young women rejecting the state policy of forced hijab, the protests have grown to include men and women across socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds voicing broad rejection of the Islamic Republic’s political order.

Credible evidence has shown Iranian security forces repeatedly, deliberately and indiscriminately firing live ammunition and metal pellets, including birdshot, at protesters, including children, resulting in the known deaths of more than 200 protesters and bystanders, including at least 23 children.[9] Actual numbers are likely to be far higher. Violent arrests and abusive detainment conditions are causing untold numbers of serious injuries.

This is now the second time in recent years that the authorities in Iran have responded to nationwide protests with lethal violence on a mass scale. Several hundred —some credible estimates say over a thousand—civilians and bystanders were killed by state security forces during the November 2019 protests.[10] No state official was ever held accountable for any of those deaths. The current violence against protesters indicates a grave escalation of this pattern of swift, indiscriminate and lethal state violence to crush peaceful protest in Iran.

WHY IT MATTERS

As the authorities in Iran move to squash the protests, the fundamental rights of Iran’s citizenry are being violated and international law is being challenged. Defending the Iranian people and their rights is central not only to American principles but also to U.S. strategic interests that rest on the perpetuation of this rules-based order. Anything less than meaningful and coordinated international opprobrium at this juncture signals that the world is preoccupied with other matters and the authorities in Iran can commit their crimes at will and with impunity. This will encourage further state atrocities inside Iran, and increases the potential for similarly reckless behavior in the Islamic Republic’s external relations.[11] It will encourage tyrants everywhere.

WHAT CAN BE DONE

Coordinated action by the international community that imposes meaningful costs on the Islamic Republic for its crimes and rights violations is imperative; it will signal to the authorities that they will be increasingly penalized and isolated for their continued atrocities. The Islamic Republic has demonstrated resistance to pressure, but it is not impervious. As the Iranian government provides no avenues of accountability for abuses committed by its forces and ignores international condemnations, the world community must act together to impose significantly strengthened diplomatic costs and further isolation in an effort to stem the carnage underway in Iran.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

I. Suspend nuclear negotiations with Iran

• The nuclear deal with Iran cannot be isolated from the ongoing atrocities being committed by the Iranian authorities, which include the mass killings of peaceful protesters, including women and children. While efforts at nuclear nonproliferation are important, what will flow from this deal is a significant release of funds, in the form of both unfrozen assets and increased oil revenues, which will increase the repressive capacity of the state. Bolstering the capacity of the Islamic Republic at a time when it is trying to crush peaceful public protest with lethal state violence actively assists the government and directly impacts the country’s domestic affairs. As such, the nuclear negotiations should be suspended.

 

II. Advance an urgent session at the U.N. Human Rights Council

• The U.S. and its partners should establish an urgent special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) so that governments can address in a coordinated manner and with a collective voice the extreme state violence and crimes against protesters underway in Iran at present. This session should also address Iran’s ongoing human rights crisis, which includes an entrenched pattern of lethal suppression of peaceful protest since November 2019 for which there has been no accountability, and the systemic impunity of state agents who commit numerous and grave human rights violations in the Islamic Republic. In that session, it is imperative that the council establish an independent mechanism with investigative, reporting, and accountability functions to address the most serious crimes under international law and other gross human rights violations committed in Iran, in a manner that meets general standards of admissibility in criminal proceedings, and assist in the investigation and prosecution of those suspected of criminal responsibility.

 

III. Advance a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly

• The U.S government and its allies and partners around the world, including in Europe, Canada, Japan, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and others, must lead and vigorously pursue a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) condemning the atrocities committed by the authorities in Iran against peaceful protesters, which have now risen to the level of crimes against humanity. Country-level condemnation has had no impact, and there exists no means for accountability inside Iran. Coordinated, forceful international opprobrium is imperative.

 

IV. Assist those fleeing Islamic Republic persecution

• The U.S. government should provide direct, expedited assistance for those Iranians who are fleeing persecution by the Islamic Republic, including expediting asylum cases and providing effective protection for those seeking asylum.
• The administration should also actively encourage other governments to provide similar assistance regarding assisting refugees, expediting asylum cases and providing protections, especially in countries bordering Iran that are more likely to receive Iranian refugees.

 

V. Support Iranian civil society

• Build on the U.S. Treasury’s new D2 General License (which exempts an expanded range of online communication tools and services from sanctions) by urging private companies to make these products accessible to Iranians. Without U.S. government encouragement and explicit assurances of permissibility (e.g. public statements, private meetings, letters of comfort, etc.) such sales will not proceed any better than they did under D1.
• Address the difficulties Iranians have in accessing international financial channels to pay for such products by persuading private technology companies to provide these products and services cost-free to the Iranian people, and provide full and expedited U.S. funding for companies that are willing to develop free tools and services for the people of Iran.[12]
• Expand U.S. government funding for Farsi-language news and informational broadcasts.

 

VI. Public condemnation and sanctions

• Continue to forcefully and publicly condemn, at the highest levels —which would include statements by U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan—the Iranian government’s violence against the protesters, the use of “preventative” arrests, which have been used to round up and intimidate key civil society actors, the abduction and detainment of school children in “psychological centers,” and the state-imposed disruptions to internet access inside Iran, which are designed to prevent communication amongst protesters and block news of state atrocities from reaching the world, and call for the immediate release of all those detained for participating in the protests.
• Encourage other governments, including not only U.S. allies and partners but also other countries, especially those in the Global South, to not only publicly condemn the Iranian authorities’ crimes, but also to take tangible actions in protest such as recalling their ambassadors from the Islamic Republic and summoning Iran’s ambassadors to issue condemnations and warnings of further isolation if the violence against protesters continues.
• Maintain all individual and institutional human rights sanctions and encourage other governments to impose meaningful human rights sanctions. The administration should also work to further identify and sanction individuals, companies and parastatal organizations associated with rights violations. This includes scrutiny of elite figures in the intelligence and security forces, police, judiciary, prisons, detention centers, and the inner circle of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as the companies they control, the placement of their funds, the individuals they use as asset-owning proxies, and financial holdings they have outside Iran.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS TO U.N. MEMBER STATES

• • EU and European countries that have diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic must forge a coordinated, forceful diplomatic response to the state’s atrocities in Iran. European countries should jointly recall their ambassadors for consultations, and they should summon Iranian ambassadors to communicate directly their condemnation of the crackdown and a warning that further international isolation will ensue unless the state violence ceases.
  • All member states should call for a U.N.-led investigative, reporting, and accountability mechanism on the Islamic Republic’s most serious crimes and human rights violations, including the current crackdown, as well as an urgent special session at the UNHRC to address the Iranian government’s ongoing lethal violence against protesters.
  • U.N. member states should take action immediately to remove the Islamic Republic of Iran from its current membership in the Commission on the Status of Women. In light of the Islamic Republic’s ongoing atrocities, especially against women and girls, it has no place in the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.
  • Governments around the world should at a minimum communicate directly to Iranian ambassadors and other counterparts their unequivocal condemnation of the unlawful violence being used against women and other protesters in Iran, issue forceful public statements (both unilaterally and in joint statements with other governments) condemning the Iranian government’s violent suppression of peaceful protest, and consider recalling their ambassadors from the Islamic Republic and summoning Iran’s ambassadors to issue condemnations and warnings of further isolation if the violence against protesters continues.
  • Member states should assist the cases of individuals fleeing the Islamic Republic due to political persecution by the Iranian authorities and provide protection for those seeking asylum.
  • Governments around the world should impose and enforce meaningful human rights sanctions against any and all Iranian officials responsible for violence and unlawful activities against protesters and freeze the assets of regime officials who are human rights violators.

 

CONCLUSION

Without U.S. prioritization of the human rights crisis in Iran, and a significantly strengthened and coordinated international response that imposes meaningful costs on the Iranian authorities for their crimes and abuses, the government of Iran will receive a clear message: global attention is focused elsewhere and the authorities can violate the rights of citizens—and international law—at will and with impunity. The grave violations underway in Iran, which have become increasingly flagrant and reckless, will continue and likely worsen, with all the concomitant risks; a state that kills and abducts children for participating in peaceful protests is one that no longer has any check on its actions, legal, moral or otherwise.

The international community has failed to take meaningful action to address the Islamic Republic’s repeated violence against peaceful protesters and the Iranian authorities have repeatedly ignored the calls of the U.N. secretary general, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, the U.N. special rapporteurs, the U.N. General Assembly, and multiple governments around the world to cease the unlawful use of excessive and lethal force against protesters and to investigate and prosecute those responsible for unlawful killings and other abuses.[13]

The Islamic Republic has consistently demonstrated it has no intention of instituting any means of accountability for crimes committed by state officials. It is imperative that the U.S. and the international community move beyond isolated statements of condemnation and communicate to the Islamic Republic that its international isolation and pariah status will only increase if the state violence and denial of the Iranian citizenry’s most fundamental rights continues.

The U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, put it succinctly, when he noted the “lack of any progress or political will to conduct investigations, let alone ensure accountability” in the Islamic Republic. He stressed that it was “imperative that the international community uses other existing channels… to seek accountability…. [and that] without the involvement of the international community, such grave violations will continue.”[14]

ENDNOTES 

[1] “Iran Protests: Death Toll Rises to at Least 201/Children Victims of the Crackdown,” Iran Human Rights, October 12, 2022 https://iranhr.net/en/articles/5517/

[2] “Iran Protests: Scores of Civil Society Members Detained ‘Preventatively’,” Center for Human Rights in Iran, October 6, 2022 https://iranhumanrights.org/2022/10/iran-protests-scores-of-civil-society-members-detained-preventatively/

[3] “Iran Protests: Human Rights Layers Arrested, Teargassed,” Center for Human Rights in Iran, October 12, 2022 https://iranhumanrights.org/2022/10/iran-protests-human-rights-lawyers-arrested-teargassed/

[4] “Iran Protests: Arrests of School Children Prompt Grave Fears of More Child killings,” Center for Human Rights in Iran, October 13, 2022 https://iranhumanrights.org/2022/10/iran-protests-arrests-of-school-children-prompt-grave-fears-of-more-child-killings/

[5] “Iran: Fundamental Legal and Institutional Reform Needed to Curb Impunity, Says UN Expert,” Press release from the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, March 17, 2022 https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/iran-fundamental-legal-and-institutional-reforms-needed-curb-impunity-says

[6] “Students Violently Attacked, Arrested by Security Forces,” Center for Human Rights in Iran October 3, 2022 https://iranhumanrights.org/2022/10/sharif-students-violently-attacked-arrested-by-security-forces-as-protests-in-iran-spread/

[7] “Iran Protests: Sanandaj Becomes Latest Killing Zone Amid Worsening State Violence,” Center for Human Rights in Iran, October 10, 2022 https://iranhumanrights.org/2022/10/iran-protests-sanandaj-becomes-latest-killing-zone-amid-worsening-state-violence/

[8] “Mahsa Amini is Another Victim of the Islamic Republic’s War on Women,” Center for Human Rights in Iran, September 16, 2022 https://iranhumanrights.org/2022/09/mahsa-amini-is-another-victim-of-islamic-republics-war-on-women/

[9] See this video of security forces shooting at a protester from close range in Tehran’s Sa’adat Abad neighborhood, October 8, 2022 (Source: Bazaar Civil Protest channel) https://t.me/Eterazebazar/96757; this video of security forces shooting at protesters in Lahijan, northern Iran, October 12, 2022 (Source: Bazaar Civil Protest channel) https://t.me/Eterazebazar/96757; this video of security forces shooting directly at protesters near Tehran’s Sharif University, October 10, 2022 (Source: Bazaar Civil Protest channel) https://t.me/Eterazebazar/97105; this video of security forces shooting at protesters when someone shouts: “They killed him!” in Divandareh, western Iran, October 4, 2022 (Source: Bazaar Civil Protest channel) https://t.me/Eterazebazar/96396; this video of security forces shooting at protesters in Dehgolan, Kurdistan province, October 1, 2022 (Source: Free Workers Union of Iran) https://t.me/ettehad/105927; and this video of security forces shooting at protesters in Isfahan, central Iran, October 1, 2022 (Source: Free Workers Union of Iran) https://t.me/ettehad/105926

[10] See “They Aimed at My Son’s Head: Report Reveals Carnage in Crushed Iran Protests,” Center for Human Rights in Iran, May 2020 https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/05/they-aimed-at-my-sons-head-report-reveals-carnage-in-crushed-iran-protests/ and “Iran: Details of 321 Deaths in Crackdown on  November 2019 Protests,” Amnesty International, updated July 2022 https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MDE1323082020ENGLISH.pdf and “Special Report: Iran’s leader ordered crackdown on unrest – ‘Do whatever it takes to end it’,” Reuters, December 23, 2019 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-protests-specialreport/special-report-irans-leader-ordered-crackdown-on-unrest-do-whatever-it-takes-to-end-it-idUSKBN1YR0QR

[11] See “Human Rights in Iran and U.S. National Security Interests: A Path Forward for U.S. Foreign Policy Toward the Islamic Republic,” Center for Human Rights in Iran, June 13, 2022 https://iranhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/Human-Rights-in-Iran-and-U.S.-Security-Center-for-Human-Rights-in-Iran.pdf and “Prioritizing Human Rights in Iran: A New U.S. Foreign Policy Approach,” Center for Human Rights in Iran https://iranhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/US-Iran-Human-Rights-Foreign-Policy-QA-for-Policy-Briefing.pdf and Burke-White, William W., “Human Rights and National Security: The Strategic Correlation” (2004). Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law. 960. https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/960

[12] Joseph Menn and Yasmeen Abutaleb, “With U.S. Nudges, Google and Others Aim to Help Iranian Protesters,” The Washington Post, October 13, 2022 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/13/iran-protests-google-jigsaw-vpn/

[13] See “Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Report of the Secretary-General, Report to the Seventy-sixth session of the UN General Assembly,” August 4, 2021 https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N21/216/25/PDF/N2121625.pdf?OpenElement; and “Mahsa Amini: Acting UN human rights chief urges impartial probe into death in Iran,” Press release from the U.N. office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, September 20, 2022 https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/09/mahsa-amini-acting-un-human-rights-chief-urges-impartial-probe-death-iran; and “Iran: UN condemns violent crackdown against hijab protests,” UN News, September 27, 2022 https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1128111; and “UN experts strongly condemn death of Mahsa Amini, ‘victim of Iran’s sustained repression’,” UN News, September 22, 2022 https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1127471; and “Seventy-sixth session Agenda item 74 (c) Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 16 December 2021 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/76/462/Add.3, para. 34)] 76/178, Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran” https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N21/403/86/PDF/N2140386.pdf?OpenElement

[14] A/HRC/49/75: Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javaid Rehman, Published January 13, 2022 https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc4975-situation-human-rights-islamic-republic-iran-report-special

NOT SNL COLD START

Saudi investors welcome 'dear friend' Elon Musk as new Twitter CEO

The New Arab Staff
29 October, 2022

Saudi investors welcomed Elon Musk as Twitter CEO on Friday, confirming the Gulf kingdom would remain the joint second-largest stakeholder in the company.

Saudi conglomerate Kingdom Holding Company, the second largest stakeholder in Twitter, was founded by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal [source: Getty] 

ORIGINALLY WAS A SHAREHOLDER IN FOX NEWS CORP.

Saudi investors welcomed Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter on Friday, saying they were "together all the way" with the new ownership.

The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) and the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal released a statement on the social media platform saying they would remain in control of their 34,948,975 Twitter shares, valued at $1.89 billion.

This makes the Saudis the second largest investor alongside the South African business tycoon. They had initially criticised Musk for miscalculating the platform's "intrinsic value".

 

RELATED

Elon Musk takes control of Twitter, fires executives

"This deal is in line with the long-term investment strategy for which Kingdom Holding Company is known for," the KHC statement read.

KHC was founded by Prince Waleed bin Talal, the grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder Abdul Aziz ibn Saud It is 16.9 percent owned by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, a multi-billion dollar fund run by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman which has made a number of high-profile purchases such as buying Newcastle Football club.

Musk took control of Twitter, which has more than 230 million users, on Friday. His first move as CEO involved firing a number of senior figures, including chief executive Parag Agrawal and chief financial officer Ned Segal.

The SpaceX founder said his reasons for buying the social media platform was "to try to help humanity".

Musk has visioned Twitter as a "common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence".

Saudi Arabia is a prolific human rights abuser that regularly imprisons people for expressing dissenting opinions. This year, a Saudi mother of two was given a 34-year jail sentence for retweeting tweets mildly critical of the government.

SOLIDARITY IS INTERSECTIONALITY

Greta Thunberg visits Westminster sit-in protest for jailed British-Egyptian Alaa Abdel-Fattah

The New Arab Staff
30 October, 2022

Climate icon Greta Thunberg lent her support for Alaa Abdel-Fattah and his sisters, who are pushing for him to be released before the COP27 summit begins in Egypt on 6 November


Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg lent her support to the Westminster sit-in [Getty]

Youth climate activist Greta Thunberg has made a surprise visit to London’s solidarity sit-in for writer and activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who is being imprisoned by Egypt.

Alaa’s sister Sanaa Seif began her sit-in protest outside the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office almost two weeks ago.

Seif is calling on UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly to secure the release of her brother, who holds British citizenship, after 200 days of hunger strike and years of incarceration.

Thunberg lent her support for Alaa and his sisters, who are pushing for him to be released before the COP27 summit begins in Egypt on 6 November.

She also wrote in the sit-in visitors' book, which bears the names of David Lammy MP, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Layla Moran MP and many others who have visited the protest site.

"It was deeply moving to have @GretaThunberg's solidarity at the #FreeAlaa sit-in today. A big thank you," tweeted the campaign.

"For #COP27 not to greenwash Egypt's human rights abuses, prisoners of conscience must be released now."



Greta Thunberg, who rose to international acclaim after going on strike at her Swedish school in protest against the climate crisis, is in the UK for the global launch of her new publication, 'The Climate Book'.

The international climate meet will be held in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from next week.

Egyptian activists have argued that real action on the climate can only be taken if activists, journalists, scientists and others like Alaa Abdel-Fattah are free to put pressure on their governments, without fear of imprisonment and repression.

Greta Thunberg to skip ‘greenwashing’ Cop27 climate summit in Egypt

Swedish climate activist says the UN’s climate conference will be ‘used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention’

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said she would skip COP 27 during the launch of her new book "The Climate Book" in London. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Guardian staff and agencies
Mon 31 Oct 2022 03.23 GMT

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has said she will skip next month’s Cop27 talks in Egypt, criticising the global summit as a forum for “greenwashing”.

“I’m not going to Cop27 for many reasons, but the space for civil society this year is extremely limited,” she said during a question and answer at the launch of her latest book at London’s Southbank Centre.

The 19-year-old activist had previously tweeted to express solidarity with “prisoners of conscience” being held in Egypt. The UN’s 27th conference on climate opens in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on 6 November.


Greenwashing a police state: the truth behind Egypt’s Cop27 masquerade

“The Cops are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing,” she said.

The Cop conferences, she added, “are not really meant to change the whole system”, but instead encourage gradual progress.

“So as it is, the Cops are not really working, unless of course we use them as an opportunity to mobilise.”

Thunberg was among those who last week accused Greenpeace of “greenwashing” the Egyptian government’s image and discouraging other activists from forcefully raising the country’s abysmal human rights record ahead of the climate summit.

In July, a group of environmentalists and activists wrote an open letter expressing their alarm over Egypt’s ability to host the event successfully because of its poor record on human rights, especially as thousands of prisoners of conscience remain imprisoned. The signatories included John Sauven, former executive director of Greenpeace UK, but Greenpeace UK declined to sign.

Released last week, Thunberg’s The Climate Book includes about 100 contributions from various experts, including economist Thomas Piketty, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the writer Naomi Klein.

Thunberg’s royalties for the book will go to her foundation, which will distribute them to charitable organisations working on environmental issues.

The activist said she wanted the book to “be educational, which is a bit ironic since my thing is school strikes”, referring to her protests in front of the Swedish parliament starting in 2018.

On Sunday, Thunberg called for more people to get involved in climate activism, saying the time had come for “drastic changes” to the status quo.

“In order to change things, we need everyone – we need billions of activists,” she said.

Thunberg attend the previous Cop in Glasgow in 2021.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Greta Thunberg says Cop27 a ‘scam’ that provides platform for ‘greenwashing, lying and cheating’

Saphora Smith
Sun, October 30, 2022 

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks with British journalist Samira Ahmed on stage at the Royal Festival Hall (REUTERS)

Greta Thunberg has described climate summits such as the Cop27 conference taking place in Egypt next week as a “scam” that is “failing” humanity and the planet by not leading to “major changes”.

The Swedish activist said people in positions of power were using the high-profile gatherings for attention and were “greenwashing, lying and cheating”.

“As it is now Cops not are not really going to lead to any major changes, unless of course, we use them as an opportunity to mobilise,” she said on stage at the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival on Sunday where she was promoting her new work The Climate Book, an anthology of essays on the climate crisis from over one hundred experts.

Activists must try to “make people realise what a scam this is and realise that these systems are failing us”, she added.

This week the UN warned that there is “no clear pathway” in place to limit global heating to 1.5C – a target from the 2016 Paris Agreement – as only a handful of countries had strengthened their pledges to take action.

In a wide-ranging keynote address and on-stage interview with the journalist Samira Ahmed, Ms Thunberg spoke on everything from politics and activism to how to deal with eco-anxiety.

Asked for her thoughts on the controversial tactics of groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, who have recently made headlines, including by throwing soup over Van Gough’s Sunflowers, the teenager said there were a broad range of actions so couldn’t generalise but that she thought it was “reasonable” to expect climate activists to try different kinds of actions.

“We’re right now in a very desperate position and many people are becoming desperate and are trying to find new methods because we realise that what we’ve been doing up until now has not done the trick,” she told Ahmed.

As for upsetting people, she said “harming people is one thing and making someone annoyed is a different thing”.

The experts who have made contributions to her book range from geophysicists to philosophers and indigenous leaders – some are also household names like Margaret Atwood, Naomi Klein and George Monbiot.

Copies of Greta Thunberg’s ‘The Climate Book’ for sale in London on October 27 2022 (AFP via Getty)

Each chapter of the anthology is accompanied by an essay by Ms Thunberg, chronicling her own educational journey in the field.

Ms Thunberg said on Sunday that her main source of hope and optimism came from grassroots activism and that the world could not rely on those in power to deliver systemic change because they were either ignoring the problem, distracting attention from it or denying it existed.

“It’s a betrayal because these are the ones that have the power,” she said.

Asked if she would consider a career in politics, Ms Thunberg said she thought she could do more by pressurising from the outside because politics as it stands was more about preserving the status quo.

Her appearance at the literature festival comes a week before the doors of the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt open.

The crucial gathering of world leaders, climate scientists, activists, civil society and celebrities aims to move forward action on the climate crisis from the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year.

But there have been concerns about how much space civil society will have to pressurise leaders from the outside in Egypt. Ms Thunberg repeated on Sunday that she would not be attending the event for many reasons, adding that because the space for civil society was restricted it was important to leave space for people from the areas most affected by climate change to be there.

Earlier on Sunday, Ms Thunberg visited the sister of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian writer imprisoned in Egypt, who has been protesting outside the Foreign Office since 18 October calling for her brother to be released.

Something Unknown Seems to Blast Earth With Radiation Every Thousand Years or So

Frank Landymore - Futurism

TODAY

Massive spikes of radiation levels on Earth were once believed to be caused by solar flares, but a new study suggests that something else may be driver.

Unknown Threat

Solar flares were once thought to be responsible for historical spikes in the Earth's radiation levels. But a new study suggests that those spikes of radiation may not be caused by solar flares as once believed, seemingly meaning that something much more powerful — and still unknown to us — may have been responsible instead.

"There's a kind of extreme astrophysical phenomenon that we don't understand and it actually could be a threat to us," Benjamin Pope, coauthor of the study and astrophysicist at the University of Queensland, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The study, published Wednesday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, examined tree rings for spikes of carbon 14, a radioactive isotope of carbon whose increased presence represents spikes in radiation levels on Earth. The radiation upticks, in turn, are caused by mysterious astrophysical events called "Miyake events," so named after the Japanese scientist that discovered them.

According to Pope, there have been six known Miyake events in the past 10,000 years, with the latest having occurred in 993 CE. Until now, they were believed to be caused by severe solar storms that typically occurred at the 11 year peak of sunspot activity in the solar cycle.

Off-Cycle

But after crunching the data, Pope and his team found that these radiation spikes cropped up all across the solar cycle, not just at its 11 year peak, throwing a big wrench in the prevailing theory.

Even stranger is how long some of the spikes lasted.

"At least two, maybe three of these events... took longer than a year, which is surprising because that's not going to happen if it's a solar flare," Pope told the ABC.

The last powerful solar flare to strike our planet occurred in 1859. Known as the Carrington Event, it severely damaged telecommunications infrastructure at the time.

In an age heavily reliant on electronics and the internet, a Carrington-like event could be monumentally more devastating today. But ominously, whatever caused the Miyake events would have been up to 100 times more powerful than even the Carrington.

Sunburst

So what ungodly force could have been responsible for these Miyake events?

Pope thinks it could be an unholy barrage of solar flares bursting in quick succession.

"Not just one solar flare, but recurrent solar flares going off again and again," he explained.

As for the odds of experiencing such an event anytime soon, Pope thinks they're slim — but maybe not that slim.

"Based on available data, there's roughly a one per cent chance of seeing another one within the next decade," Pope said in a press release.

More on the sun: Ludicrously Close Up Shots of the Sun Look Nothing Like You'd Expect

The post Something Unknown Seems to Blast Earth With Radiation Every Thousand Years or So appeared first on Futurism.

Tunisia's new electoral law 'excludes disabled people from public office', rights group says

The New Arab Staff
30 October, 2022

The need to collect hundreds of sponsorships and the removal of public funding will make running in elections difficult for disabled candidates, a Tunisian rights group has said.

People with disabilities have participated in seven elections since the 2011 Tunisian revolution [Getty]


Tunisian president Kais Saied’s controversial new electoral laws exclude disabled candidates from standing for election, according to a Tunisian rights group.

"For the first time since the Revolution, people with disabilities are not able to run for the 17 December 2022 legislative election under decree No. 55," said Mohamed Mansouri, head of disability NGO Ibsar at a press conference on Saturday.

"In fact, this decree-law excludes the participation of people with disabilities and created obstacles preventing them from running for office, such as collecting a minimum of 400 sponsorships and removing public funding."

Anyone wishing to stand in December's elections had to submit their candidacies by 17 October. Candidates for the upcoming vote have had to fundraise privately, favouring wealthier - and more able - candidates.

According to Ibsar’s statistics, people with disabilities have already stood and participated in seven elections since the Tunisian revolution of 2011.

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The new electoral law, announced on 15 September by presidential decree, has been roundly condemned for gutting Tunisia’s party system and handing the president further powers to preside over electoral practices.

It also removed minimum quotas for women and candidates under the age of 35, which had helped Tunisia improve parliamentary representation since the 2011 revolution.

Many opposition parties across the political spectrum have resolved to boycott the upcoming elections on 17 December, arguing that the new law is part of a "coup on constitutional legitimacy".

The elections will be "held under the supervision of a body that is not neutral and is loyal to the ruling authority", Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, leader of the National Salvation Front, said of the new law.

Celtic fans wave Palestinian flags at Champions League game after Israel's brutal Nablus assault

The New Arab Staff
27 October, 2022

Fans of Glasgow football team Celtic have shown their support for Palestinians again at a crunch Champions League match.

Celtic fans have frequently shown support for the Palestinian cause [Getty]

Celtic fans have shown their support for Palestinians again at a Champions League match on Tuesday, following brutal Israeli assaults on Nablus this week.

Supporters at Celtic Park's North Curve waved Palestinian flags and held a huge banner saying "Solidarity Nablus! Free Palestine!" at Celtic's Group F match against Ukrainian side FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

It follows deadly Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank this week, which saw six Palestinians, including a teenager, killed.

"Thank you the fans of @CelticFC for the [solidarity] and support with Nablus & 🇵🇸. The people of Palestine know they are not alone in the struggle to end oppression & injustice!" tweeted Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zumlot.

Celtic's support mostly comes from Scottish fans of Irish background who sympathise strongly with the Palestinian cause and see it as a reflection of their own struggle for a united Ireland.

Celtic ultras frequently show support for Palestinians at games, particularly European Champions League matches. This has resulted in fines from European football's governing body UEFA.

In 2014, the club was fined $20,750 by UEFA after dozens of fans waved Palestinian flags at a game against Icelandic side KR Reykjavik after a devastating Israeli assault on Gaza which killed over 2,000 Palestinians.

New Zealand suspends bilateral human rights dialogue with Iran

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
31 October, 2022

New Zealand said it has suspended its official bilateral human rights dialogue with Iran over its violent crackdown on protests which have rocked the country for over a month


Anti-government protests have rocked Iran for over a month and a half [Getty/archive]

The New Zealand government said on Monday it has suspended its official bilateral human rights dialogue with Iran, saying bilateral approaches were "no longer tenable" with basic human rights being denied in the country.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement the decision to suspend the dialogue sends a strong signal that bilateral approaches on human rights were not tenable with Iran denying basic human rights and violently suppressing protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by the morality police for attire deemed inappropriate.

"Violence against women, girls or any other members of Iranian society to prevent their exercise of universal human rights is unacceptable and must end. This is clearly a difficult time for the people of Iran," Mahuta said.

New Zealand and Iran had established the dialogue in 2018 with the stated hope of advancing human rights issues and concerns. A first round of talks was held in 2021, with the next one scheduled to take place later in 2022.

New Zealand officials last week confirmed that two New Zealanders who had been detained in Iran for a number of months, had been released and were safe. The New Zealand government also last Wednesday updated its travel warnings for Iran and urged New Zealanders currently there to leave.

(Reuters)

Iran protests: Basij death toll highlights paramilitary group's role in crackdown

Iran has deployed thousands of paramilitary Basij members across the country to suppress anti-government protests

An Iranian student from the Islamic Basij volunteer militia burns a US flag in Tehran, during a protest on 16 July against President Biden's visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia (AFP)

By MEE correspondent in Tehran
Published date: 22 October 2022

Elnaz* was returning from a protest in central Tehran in late September over the death of Mahsa Amini when four men on motorbikes pulled up and blocked her way.

The men were members of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, who have been central to the suppression of demonstrations against mandatory headscarves and the "morality police" since the 22-year old Kurdish woman's death in mid-September.

Elnaz told Middle East Eye that she was detained and transferred to Al-Javad mosque in Haft-e Tir square.

"They dragged me to the mosque basement where other girls were under arrest," she said. "Then a police officer came and took our phones and, one by one, checked out our text messages. I had already deleted all messages about the protests, and I told the officer that I had been arrested mistakenly."

Basij paramilitaries march alongside a Shahab-3 missile to mark Al-Quds Day in Tehran, 29 April (AFP)

She was finally released when she convinced the police her arrest was based on false claims.

"When I was running out of the mosque's small door at the square, I saw more Basij members were about to enter with new arrestees," she added.

While Elnaz was able to escape, at least 215 protesters, including 27 children, have been killed since the beginning of anti-government protests on 16 September, many at the hands of Basij members.

But figures released by the government and state media also suggest that the unprecedented number of deaths and injuries suffered by Basij underscores the role of the paramilitary group's involvement in suppressing the protests.

On 15 October, IRNA, the country's official news agency, reported that 850 Basij members had so far been injured in the capital alone. The news agency quoted Brigadier General Hassan Hassanzadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran, as saying 185 paramilitaries were injured in the capital on one night, without elaborating on the exact date or place of the incident.

Hassanzadeh added that three members of Basij were killed in confrontations with the demonstrators.

MEE has not been able to independently verify these figures.

Record-high death toll

The Basij has a base in all mosques across the country. The IRGC commands the paramilitary force, and most of its members are volunteers.

However, these members are not directly paid by the IRGC - the government provides full economic support to the members and assists them in occupying positions in governmental offices, the public sector and universities.

But the role apparently comes with risks - reports so far suggest that the nationwide death toll of Basij members has been higher than in any other uprising since 1979.

Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the IRGC, wrote that one Basij member and an IRGC major were killed in the small city of Beyrom on 14 October as they attempted to arrest citizens who wrote anti-government slogans on city walls.

Last week, Iran, the state-run daily newspaper, published a list of armed and paramilitary forces killed since the beginning of the latest wave of demonstrations in the country. It reported that 17 Basij members and seven armed officers were killed during the first four weeks of the protests.

Speaking to Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity, an Iranian political scientist said the deployment of Basij to suppress protests has increased in recent years, as the establishment has lost social support.

"Since it was founded in 1979, Basij has always been an important force for the regime's repression machine, but now its presence has increased because this dictatorial system can't fully trust its own police officers," he said.

The analyst stressed the Iran-Iraq war was the only other time when paramilitaries suffered a higher death toll than the official forces.

"Now, the widespread deployment of paramilitaries has two benefits for the regime; first, they add ready-to-combat manpower to their repression machine; second, they can whitewash their crimes by putting the blame on the paramilitaries," he concluded.
Overlap with army

According to the Iran daily, Basij members were killed in demonstrations in all of the major Iranian cities, including Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz, Tabriz, Orumiyeh and Karaj.

One surprising detail in its report was the death of an officer serving in Artesh, the country's official army. However, a retired Artesh officer confirmed to MEE that Artesh members had also registered with the Basij and participated in the operations to receive governmental support.

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"I was a volunteer member of Basij for a few years, even when I was an officer in the official army," he told MEE.

"We had to operate checkpoints, and I didn't like stopping ordinary people's cars and searching them. So later on, I stopped working with Basij. But many army officials are also members of the Basij."

Reports published by people close to the establishment also underlined Basij's role in the attacks on demonstrators.

On his Instagram page, Javad Mogouei, a documentary filmmaker with close ties to the office of Iran's supreme leader, explained the details of his brutal arrest by the paramilitaries.

"Someone hit me from behind. I fell to the ground. They kicked into my head and chest… they were 10 beating me… [then] they pushed me in a police van," wrote Mogouei, whose brother is a commander in Basij forces from the city of Karaj.

*Names have been changed for security reasons

Lawmaker suggests Iran recruited children for protest crackdown

Pictures have emerged of juveniles in riot gear helping to crush Iran's anti-government protests.

An unidentified young person in Shahrood, Iran, wears riot gear and holds a baton in this undated photo. - unknown

Al-Monitor Staff
October 20, 2022

Iranian lawmaker Ahmad Alirezabeigi said the hard-line state militia known as the Basij is governed by regulations that allow it to recruit minors in the ongoing deadly crackdown on protests in the country.

In an interview published Oct. 20 by the Iran-based Rouydad 24 news site, Alirezabeigi was challenged about multiple recent pictures showing baton-wielding teenage boys in riot gear. The lawmaker said Basij authorities are treating the protests the same way they treated the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, when children were deployed to the front line.

He raised the example of 12-year-old Hossein Fahmideh, who in the Iranian official narrative famously blew himself up to destroy an invading Iraqi tank in 1980. Fahmideh has been praised by Iranian officials as an exemplary martyr and the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, called the teenager "our leader."

In the ongoing protests, according to the lawmaker, the Basij organization sees the country as "in jeopardy." He suggested that that belief justifies the use of children to quell the unrest. It remains unclear whether their recruitment is due to a security staff shortage in the face of the growing protests.

The weeks-long unrest in Iran was sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by the Iranian morality police for her alleged failure to properly observe the Islamic Republic's hijab laws. The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights advocacy group has documented the deaths of at least 215 protesters in the hands of government forces since, 27 of them believed to be minors. Iranian authorities have denied responsibility and have brought victims' family members before cameras to recount how they had died of underlying health conditions or suicide.

Alirezabeigi acknowledged "with regret" that a number of students have been arrested in the protests, complaining that even lawmakers are being kept in the dark by the judiciary about the detention conditions.

Since schoolgirls joined the protests by defiantly removing their hijabs and chanting against the Islamic Republic leadership, they have been relentlessly targeted by Iranian security forces in and outside their schoolyards.

The leading Iranian teachers syndicate, the Council for the Coordination of Iranian Teacher Unions, reported on Thursday that students arrested by intelligence forces have faced "severe" physical mistreatment. The union cited the case of a 17-year-old from the Kurdish city of Javanroud who told his family during a brief telephone conversation from a detention facility that he had been "brutally tortured."

"A number of students have died in the most merciless fashion as a result of the systematic crackdown," the union revealed, accusing the Education Ministry of serving "as a tool for repression."

Despite the public and widespread nature of the protests that seem to go beyond class and ethnicity, Iranian officials have repeatedly downplayed their scale and have linked the unrest to the United States

"All the Americans could do was set ablaze a few trash bins," said the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, on Thursday. Salami described the protest movement as "sedition" in which "only a tiny number of women joined the call of the devil to remove their hijabs."

A feared Iranian militia is leading the crackdown on protesters.

 Who are the Basij?

The paramilitary force “is an armed youth organization, which for all practical purposes also serves as the ground forces of the Islamic Republic,” one expert said.

Iranian Basij paramilitary forces during a rally in Tehran, in April.

AFP via Getty Images


Oct. 22, 2022, 
By Hyder Abbasi


Dressed in black, the group of chanting schoolgirls in the Iranian city of Shiraz appeared determined to make themselves heard.

“Basiji, go and get lost,” they shouted at a man in a gray suit standing at a podium in front of them.

NBC News has verified a video of the incident, which was posted to Twitter earlier this month, but cannot establish if the man at the podium is a member of the feared Basij militia, which has been leading the crackdown on the nationwide anti-government protests that erupted last month after the death of Mahsa Amini.

Amini, 22, from Iran’s Kurdistan region, died in a hospital three days after she was detained by police in Tehran last month and accused of failing to fully cover her hair and defying the country’s strict dress codes.

Several videos posted to social media since her death have featured demonstrators shouting angry chants against the Basij.

But who are the Basij? And what role has the organization played in the unrest in Iran that has been ongoing for almost six weeks?

Volunteer militia

Established in 1979 by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Basij-e Mostaz'afin or Organization for the Mobilization of the Oppressed is a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in April 2019.

More commonly referred to as the Basij, which means “mobilization” in the Persian language, the militia “is an armed youth organization which for all practical purposes also serves as the ground forces of the Islamic Republic,” Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C., said by telephone Thursday.

The group gained prominence in the 1980s during Iran’s war with its neighbor Iraq, when waves of young, often lightly armed men, with only basic military training and without any artillery or air support, charged across open minefields.

Today, it is still comprised of volunteers and used by Iran’s government to suppress dissidents, protests, surveil the population and indoctrinate Iranian citizens, and it is also deployed during natural disasters and has a presence in government institutions, Alfoneh said.

Material benefits

Many of the militia's members come from poor, conservative backgrounds in rural Iran, or deprived districts in the country's cities and, Alfoneh said, a lot of them joined up for privileges and material benefits that come with signing up and not necessarily because of ideological reasons.

The Basij gave them access to higher education, subsidized consumer goods, free health care and job security, he added.

Signing up to the militia is also seen as respected and prestigious and allows its members to become socially mobile, said Saeid Golkar, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who has written a book on the group.

Although there are no official figures, the group has around 1 million members, he said, although he added that “the core of the Basij is only about 100,000 active members.”

Today, the Basij enforce the country's strict religious codes, acting as morality police in public places, such as parks and at checkpoints, and heavily monitor the population, he said.

Suppression methods

There are three primary methods the Basij use to suppress anti-government protests, Golkar said.

Firstly, they patrol the streets, displaying their presence to the public, and “they create this illusion that the regime has strong social support by being on the street and facing the protesters,” he said.

Secondly, he said, members dress in plainclothes to infiltrate the protests to identify “political activists or the people who are actively chanting and mocking the regime or recording videos.”

If these methods fail, he added, the Basij will resort to force, using batons and whips to beat demonstrators and, in some cases, target them using deadly weapons, such as shotguns.

Violent history

The Basij have previously been accused of violently cracking down on individuals or groups that dare to criticize or protest against the cleric-led government.

In 2009, rights groups including Amnesty International, said the group had used excessive force during peaceful anti-government protests triggered by a disputed presidential election. Amnesty said at the time that it documented reports of the Basij beating demonstrators and firing at them with live ammunition.

Last month, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned a deputy commander of the Basij, accusing him and the militia of killing unarmed protesters on “numerous occasions.”

Iran cracks down on protesters after weeks of demonstrations00:24

This followed sanctions on members of the group by Britain's treasury in January, which accused them of human rights violations, including the murder, torture and mass beatings of peaceful protesters.

Second thoughts

Despite its fearsome reputation, some members of the Basij are struggling to act against anti-government protesters, particularly young women and girls who have been leading the demonstrations, burning headscarves and furiously demanding reform from the country's leaders, Alfoneh said.

“The issue is that members are taught to have some kind of Islamic values, you know, Islamic values of honor, and now they are taught to go and beat up girls, and that of course, runs against that ethos,” he said.

Security forces tear gas students defying Iran protest ultimatum

This image grab from a UGC video posted on October 29, 2022, reportedly shows security forces firing at buildings of the Kurdistan University Faculty of Medical Sciences in Sanandaj, the main city of Iran's Kurdistan province. (AFP)

Reuters
Published: 30 October ,2022

Protests in Iran entered a more violent phase on Sunday as students, who defied an ultimatum by the Revolutionary Guards and a warning from the president, were met with tear gas and gunfire from security forces, social media videos showed.

The confrontations at dozens of universities prompted the threat of a tougher crackdown in a seventh week of demonstrations sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by the morality police for attire deemed inappropriate.

“Security is the red line of the Islamic Republic, and we will not allow the enemy to implement in any way its plans to undermine this valuable national asset,” hardline President Ebrahim Raisi said, according to state media.

Iranians from all walks of life have taken to the streets since Amini's death in protests that the clerical rulers said were endangering the Islamic Republic's security.

Authorities have accused Islamic Iran's arch-enemies the United States and Israel and their local agents of being behind the unrest to destabilize the country.

What began as outrage over Amini's death on Sept. 16 has evolved into one of the toughest challenges to clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution, with some protesters calling for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards told protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets, the harshest warning yet by Iranian authorities.

Nevertheless, videos on social media, unverifiable by Reuters, showed confrontations between students and riot police and Basij forces on Sunday at universities all over Iran.

One video showed a member of Basij forces firing a gun at close range at students protesting at a branch of Azad University in Tehran. Gunshots were also heard in a video shared by rights group HENGAW from protests at the University of Kurdistan in Sanandaj.

Videos from universities in some other cities also showed Basij forces opening fire at students.

Across the country, security forces tried to block students inside university buildings, firing tear gas and beating protesters with sticks. The students, who appeared to be unarmed, pushed back, with some chanting “dishonoured Basij get lost” and “Death to Khamenei”.
History of crackdowns


Social media reported arrests of at least a dozen doctors, journalists and artists since Saturday. The activist HRANA news agency said 283 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of Saturday including 44 minors. Some 34 members of the security forces were also killed.

More than 14,000 people have been arrested, including 253 students, in protests in 132 cities and towns, and 122 universities, it said.

The Guards and its affiliated Basij force have crushed dissent in the past. They said on Sunday, “seditionists” were insulting them at universities and in the streets, and warned they may use more force if the anti-government unrest continued.

“So far, Basijis have shown restraint and they have been patient,” the head of the Revolutionary Guards in the Khorasan Junubi province, Brigadier General Mohammadreza Mahdavi, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

“But it will get out of our control if the situation continues.”
Journalists appeal


More than 300 Iranian journalists demanded the release of two colleagues jailed for their coverage of Amini in a statement published by the Iranian Etemad and other newspapers on Sunday.

Niloofar Hamedi took a photo of Amini's parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma.

The image, which Hamedi posted on Twitter, was the first signal to the world that all was not well with Amini, who had been detained three days earlier by Iran's morality police for what they deemed inappropriate dress.

Elaheh Mohammadi covered Amini's funeral in her Kurdish hometown Saqez, where the protests began. A joint statement released by Iran’s intelligence ministry and the intelligence organisation of the Revolutionary Guards on Friday had accused Hamedi and Mohammadi of being CIA foreign agents.

Students and women have played a prominent role in the unrest, burning their veils as crowds call for the fall of the Islamic Republic, which came to power in 1979.

An official said on Sunday the establishment had no plan to retreat from compulsory veiling but should be “wise” about enforcement.

“Removing the veil is against our law and this headquarters will not retreat from its position,” Ali Khanmohammadi, the spokesman of Iran’s headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice told the Khabaronline website.

“However, our actions should be wise to avoid giving enemies a pretext to use it against us.”

In a further apparent effort to defuse the situation, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said people were right to call for reform and their demands would be met if they distanced themselves from the “criminals” taking to the streets.

“We consider the protests to be not only correct and the cause of progress, but we also believe that these social movements will change policies and decisions, provided that they are separated from violent people, criminals and separatists,” he said, using terms officials typically use for the protesters.

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More clashes at Iran's universities after weeks of unrest

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
30 October, 2022

Students in Iran clashed during a memorial ceremony for the victims of a deadly attack at a Shia holy site earlier this week


The nationwide unrest has rocked the Islamic Republic for a month and a half [Getty/archive]

Students clashed during a memorial ceremony for the victims of a deadly attack at a major Shia holy site in southern Iran, the country's semi-official news outlet said Sunday.

The Tasnim news agency reported that some groups attacked a gathering in a branch of Azad University in Tehran. Several students were injured, it said, quoting witnesses as saying some students had knives in their hands. Tasnim also said an unidentified person fired tear gas during the clash and then disappeared into the crowd. The report did not elaborate on how many people were injured in the clash.

On Sunday, hardline students in several universities across the country gathered to commemorate a deadly attack by a gunman who killed 13 people, including women and children, at Shah Cheragh mosque Wednesday. Thirty people were wounded.

The militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the shooting.

The nationwide unrest — sparked by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police — has rocked the Islamic Republic for a month and a half. Amini died after being detained for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code for women.

The Iranian government has repeatedly alleged that foreign powers have orchestrated the protests, without providing evidence. The protests have become one of the most serious threats to Iran’s ruling clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The protests first focused on the state-mandated hijab, or headscarf, for women but quickly grew into calls for the downfall of Iran’s theocracy itself. At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 have been arrested in the protests that have swept over 125 Iranian cities, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

Since October 24, the country’s authorities started hearing the cases of at least 900 protesters charged with "corruption on earth" — a term often used to describe attempts to overthrow the Iranian government that carries the death penalty. Judicial officials have announced charges against hundreds of people in Tehran and other provinces as they seek to quash dissent.

Iran: Uprising Expands As Regime Launches More Campus Crackdowns – OpEd

 October 31, 2022  Eurasia Review 

By Mahmoud Hakamian

Iran’s nationwide uprising marks its 45th day on Sunday after escalating protests in many cities across the country, especially as college students took to the streets in large numbers on Saturday. Following the onslaught against Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology earlier this month, regime authorities deployed their forces into two campuses in the capital and the city of Mashhad where anti-regime dissent has been escalating.

Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 203 cities. Over 450 people have been killed and more than 25,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).  The names of 294 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.

Sunday’s protests began with another wave of student demonstrations across the country. Protests were reported in Tehran, Babolsar, Zanjan, Shiraz, Sanandaj, Mashhad, and Qazvin. At the same time primary and high school students held demonstrations in streets in several cities. These demonstrations took place despite warnings issued by Hossein Salami, the top commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), on Saturday. In several locations, security forces attacked the students but were met with fierce resistance.

Clashes continued between security forces and students. More footage and reports from Tehran indicate security forces are directly firing at students with firearms. In Sanandaj, clashes were reported in at least three universities, including Kurdistan University and Yazdanpanah University. Reports indicate security forces are using live ammunition against students.

Nightly protests were held in several cities on Sunday, including Mahabad, Bukan, Kerman, Sanandaj, and Ravansar. In several cities, protesters lit fire and prevented security forces from taking control of the streets. Clashes continued between protesters and security forces across Iran as the people refused to yield to the regime’s repression. In Tehran, families of Azad University students gathered at the campus, where the students have been stranded and surrounded by security forces.

On Saturday, cities in Iran’s Kurdish regions continued their relentless protests with locals taking to the streets in the cities of Sanandaj, Saqqez, Mahabad, Bukan, Baneh, and others. People throughout the country are chanting various slogans, some specifically calling for regime change in Iran by the people of Iran. “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to Khamenei!” referring to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and “Death to the oppressor! Be it the Shah or [Khamenei]!”

Despite Saturday’s massive crackdown measures on various college campuses, there are already reports on Sunday indicating university students in Tehran, Sanandaj, Mashhad, Shiraz, Babolsar, Chabahar, Hamadan, and Zanjan are continuing to protest the mullahs’ regime and refusing to backdown. In Saqqez, authorities are attacking high school students and a number of them have been abducted by plainclothes agents, according to local activists.

Saturday’s protests began with student rallies in universities across Iran. Protest rallies were reported in Tehran, Ahvaz, Kerman, Babol, Lorestan, Kermanshah, and Qods City. Across Iran, students called for the ouster of the mullahs, chanting anti-regime slogans such as “Death to the dictator!” “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”

Student demonstrations continue across Iran despite the repressive measures by the regime. In the previous night, security forces stormed dormitories in different cities and violently arrested students to intimidate them and prevent future protests. But the students returned to the streets on Saturday.

On Saturday, there were numerous reports of security forces attacking students. At Tehran University, Basij forces attacked and assaulted students, but the protesters resisted and continued their rallies. In Sanandaj, Basij forces attacked students at the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. And in Mashhad, security forces attacked students at Azad University.

Also on Saturday, there was a large rally at Arak as locals gathered for the funeral of Mehrshad Shahidi, a 19-year-old youth who was killed by security forces in recent days. The funeral quickly turned into an anti-regime rally, with protesters shouting slogans against Khamenei and the mullahs’ rule. Security forces attacked the rally and tried to disperse the protesters by opening fire on the protesters but were met with fierce resistance.

Protests continued late into the night on Saturday despite the heavy presence of security forces in major cities. Reports of protests came from Ahvaz, Yazd, Piranshahr, Borujerd, Lasht-e Nesha, Bukan, Bandar Abbas, and Astara.

The situation is especially tense in Mashhad, where security forces have surrounded Azad University since the evening and are cracking down on students. Videos show security forces violently beating and arresting students. There are also reports of clashes between protesters and security forces in Astara, Yazd, and Lasht-e Nesha. Protesters have put up fierce resistance despite facing heavily armed repressive forces.

Iranian opposition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi praised the brave stance of Iran’s college students, especially in the restive cities of Tehran and Mashhad. “IRGC troops and special guards have surrounded the School of Technology in Amirabad, Tehran, and Azad University of Mashhad. I urge the brave youths and people of Tehran and Mashhad to rush to their aid and break the blockade. Nothing is more powerful than people’s unity and fighting spirit,” the NCRI President-elect emphasized.

The protests in Iran began following the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, who traveled to Tehran with her family, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, at the entry of Haqqani Highway by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency.

She was brutally beaten by the morality police and died of her wounds in a Tehran hospital on September 16. The event triggered protests that quickly spread across Iran and rekindled the people’s desire to overthrow the regime.

Mahmoud Hakamian writes for PMOI/MEK, where this article was published.