Flogging, Electric Shocks, and Sexual Violence for Iran’s Detained Minors
UPDATES: Iran Protests — A Women’s Bill of Rights
UPDATE 1151 GMT:
Young women in Qom dance, without hijab, in solidarity with five teenagers in a Tehran suburb being sought by security forces.
Last week the teenagers, in the town of Ekbatan, filmed themselves — without hijab and wearing loose clothing — dancing to Calm Down by Rema and Selena Gomez. After the video went viral, Iranian officers tried to identify and track down the women.
رقص دختران مقابل کوه خضر در قم، در حمایت از #دختران_اکباتان
کارزار همبستگی با دختران اکباتان در سراسر ایران ادامه دارد…#زن_زندگی_آزادگی pic.twitter.com/LZe1WeaUg1— انقلاب زنانه (@enghelabezanane) March 17, 2023
UPDATE, MAR 18:
More than 30 doctors and human rights lawyers in Iran and France have called on Iranian authorities to release human rights attorney Mohammad Najafi, detained since 2018.
The 31 signatories note that Najafi has been in solitary confinement since September 21 because he condemned prison conditions and the murder of a detainee in police custody. Suffering from heart and kidney ailments and diabtes, he has been deprived of medical care and is on the 44th day of a hunger strike.
Despite enduring terrible physical and psychological torture, including within the four walls of his cell, Mohammad Najafi never failed to help all those who needed his assistance in defending themselves.
His inspiring struggle obliges us to come together around the world in solidarity. The whole world must know that in Iran, lawyers are imprisoned, the right to defense is prohibited, and medical staff are prevented from providing assistance.
The Iranian regime has systematically imprisoned human rights lawyers, including those who have represented detained protesters since the mass demonstrations in 2009 over the disputed Presidential election.
See also Iran’s Latest Crackdown on Lawyers and Labor Activists
UPDATE, MAR 17:
Protesters have taken to the streets in Zahedan for the 25th Friday in a row.
Demonstrators chanted,”Freedom, Freedom, Freedom”, “We don’t want the Islamic Republic”, and “Political prisoners must be released.”
🎞️ Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of #Zahedan and chanted: "I Will Kill Whoever Killed My Brother!" Thousands of protesters have been arrested and hundreds have been killed since protests began in September 2022 in #Iran.#truth #IranRevoIution #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/FtIjUVQZFD
— IranWire (@IranWireEnglish) March 17, 2023
Friday Prayer leader Molavi Abdolhamid repeated his call for fundamental change in the governance of Iran: “One ethnic group and one religion cannot rule the country.”
UPDATE, MAR 16:
Labor activist Sepideh Qolian has been rearrested, five hours after she was released from her latest detention of five months.
Qolian was seized after she and her family, traveling in three cars to their hometown of Dezful, were stopped on a motorway about 1 a.m. in Khuzestan Province in southwest Iran.
A source close to the family said:
Plainclothes officers and armed policemen…surrounded them.
There were many cars and a large number of people, so it’s unclear how many people were there to arrest Sepideh. All I know is that, as far as my eyes could see, there were plainclothes officers surrounding the family.
The security forces told Qoliyan’s relatives that she would be taken to Tehran and advised them to seek information about the case at the prosecutor’s office in Evin Prison. They did not reveal which intelligence agency they belonged to and did not show an arrest warrant.
Qolian has been periodically imprisoned since November 2018 when she reported on strikes at a sugar factory.
She was on furlough, recovering from Coronavirus, when she was again put behind bars on charges of “spreading lies and propaganda”.
She has said that female detainees face the “most savage forms of torture, and are kept in the most inhuman conditions, and their crime is simply that they are women and inmates.”
Marking her brief release from prison on Wednesday, Qolian shouted — linking the Supreme Leader to an evil figure in Persian mythology — “Khamenei Zahhak, we’ll push you under the earth.”
«خامنهای ضحاک، میکِشیمات زیر خاک»
اولین فریاد در آزادی پس از چهار سال زندان#سپیده_قلیان#مهسا_امينی pic.twitter.com/iXXB48ZrCe
— Sima Sabet | سیما ثابت (@Sima_Sabet) March 15, 2023
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Demonstrators revived Iran’s six-month protests on Tuesday during Chaharshanbeh Suri, the Persian festival of fire.
Protesters rallied again for rights, justice, and gender equality in cities across the country, including several areas of the capital Tehran.
In Ebtekan, west of Tehran, youths set fire to a banner of the Supreme Leader and to the post-1979 national flag while chanting “We don’t want the Islamic Republic.” Women burnt their headscarves in protest against compulsory hijab.
Début des manifestations à Saqqez la ville de Mahsa Amini. « Femme, Vie, Liberté », « Mort au dictateur » et « mort à Khamenei » scandent les manifestants. pic.twitter.com/K57CB7ks5f
— lettres de Teheran (@LettresTeheran) March 14, 2023
🎥 ویدیوهای منتشر شده از #سقز حاکی از حضور معترضان در خیابانها است. ۲۳اسفند
#چهارشنبه_سوری #اعتراضات_سراسری #مهسا_امینی #شهروندخبرنگار pic.twitter.com/TJIZYzaNUn
— ایران وایر (@iranwire) March 14, 2023
Ebtekan has become a center of dissent after a viral video of five teenage women joyously dancing, without hijab, earlier this month. Security forces have been trying to identify and track down the quintet, but have only succeeded in prompting videos of women dancing in solidarity inside and outside Iran.
In the Kurdish cities of Sanandaj and Saqqez — the hometown of Mahsa Amini, whose death in police custody spurred the protests last September — protesters chanted “Woman, Life, Freedom”; “Death to Khamenei”; and “Kurdistan, Kurdistan, Fascist Graveyard”. Security forces fired teargas in Saqqez in response.
Début des manifestations à Saqqez la ville de Mahsa Amini. « Femme, Vie, Liberté », « Mort au dictateur » et « mort à Khamenei » scandent les manifestants. pic.twitter.com/K57CB7ks5f
— lettres de Teheran (@LettresTeheran) March 14, 2023
🎞️ Iranian security forces fire teargas at protesters in #Saqqez during the #CharshanbehSuri, which have turned into anti-government protests. Charshanbeh Suri is an Iranian festival of fire celebrated on the last Tuesday night of the Persian calendar year.#truth pic.twitter.com/qpR1ut5vTb
— IranWire (@IranWireEnglish) March 14, 2023
Rallies were also reported in Zanjan, Piranshahr, Shahrari, Baneh, Kamiyaran, Marivan, Zahedan, Chabahar, and Rasht.
Iranians mark Chaharshanbeh Suri on the last Tuesday night of the Persian calendar year, lighting small fires and jumping over them while making wishes for the next 12 months.
Dancing in the rain in Tehran until late into the night:
« Pour pouvoir danser dans les rues » c’est ainsi que commence la fameuse chanson de « Baraye ». Hier soir pendant la fête du feu et à la veille du nouvel an iranien, les jeunes, comme ici dans le quartier de « Haft-e-tir » à Téhéran ont dansé sous la pluie jusqu’à tard pour… https://t.co/U9vZbfIfnl pic.twitter.com/3Na9IVHlbX
— lettres de Teheran (@LettresTeheran) March 15, 2023
A Baha’i Grandmother Starts Her Second Decade in Prison
https://iranwire.com/en/bahais-of-iran/114799-a-bahai-grandmother-starts-her-second-decade-in-prison/
Israelis Are Now Openly Talking About the ‘Total Destruction’ of the Jewish State: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/israel-palestine-netanyahu-democracy-autocracy-1234696058/
“Benjamin Netanyahu’s push toward autocracy has triggered massive protests — and a sense that the end of the 75-year-old Israeli experiment may be near.”
“Israelis Are Now Openly Talking About the ‘Total Destruction’ of the Jewish State…”
It sounds israilis can take lessons from the mullah state who have succeeded to bring iran to its knees.
Child Protesters Have Suffered ‘Horrific Acts Of Torture’ In Iran, Amnesty Says
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-torture-children-protests-amnesty/32320768.html
People celebrating “chaharshanbehsouri” and burning scarves while chanting in different cities….
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-women-burn-head-scarves-fire-festival/32319835.html
Blinding As A Weapon (26): Dumped In An Alleyway After Being Shot, Tortured
https://iranwire.com/en/blinding-as-a-weapon/114835-blinding-as-a-weapon-26-dumped-in-an-alleyway-after-being-shot-tortured/
No major increase in protest incidents or numbers: https://twitter.com/INTELonIRAN/status/1636242127054307330/photo/2
Leaked Document Reveals Infighting In Khamenei’s Family Business
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202303162613
“Hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali (Ali’s Justice) has released documents revealing an embezzlement case related to a company managed by Iranian Supreme Leader’s brother.
According to the document, Tehran’s public and revolutionary prosecutor Ali Salehi has ordered the case not to be pursued after Ali Khamenei’s office pulled some strings. “
Blinding As A Weapon (27): A Father Of Two Shot In Both Eyes And Killed
https://iranwire.com/en/blinding-as-a-weapon/114856-blinding-as-a-weapon-27-a-father-of-two-shot-in-the-eyes-and-killed/
Controversy Sparked In Iran Over Russian Female Officer Without Hijab
https://iranwire.com/en/news/114877-controversy-sparked-in-iran-over-russian-female-officer-without-hijab/
Wait for a “fatwa” declaring this officer is indeed a man with “tiny tine penis” Let me elaborate.
Back in 1979, the revolutionary government had to sort through many contradictory rules. One of those was around the huge and valuable caviar industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars in exports. The problem was in islam those fish that don’t have scale are “haram”. Now, all species of caviar producing fish have skin instead of scale, therefore any part of them are “haram” to eat. They took this dilemma to khomeini to address, low and behold, he came up with a solution. He issued a “fatwa” claiming “…the scientists have discovered tiny tiny scales under microscope…” Therefore it was “halal” to eat those fish.
“fatwa” is such a handy tool.
Exclusive: IRGC Commanders Warn Khamenei About Implosion
https://iranwire.com/en/politics/114906-exclusive-irgc-commanders-warn-khamenei-about-implosion/