The Blood-Stained Blindfold Of Iran’s Dissident Rapper Speaks Volumes

Intensifying efforts to quash the seven-week-old protests, ignited by Mahsa Amini's death in police custody, the hardline judiciary announced on Monday that it will hold public trials for about a thousand of the detainees. However, public trials do not necessarily mean fair trials, as the Islamic Republic routinely denies people the right to choose their own defense attorney and withholds case information from them.

According to Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, Tehran's chief justice has said these people “have carried out acts of sabotage in recent events, including assaulting or killing security guards, (and) setting fire to public property." The report added that the trials would take place in a Revolutionary Court and are scheduled for this week. 

It was not immediately clear if the 1,000 indictments announced on Monday included 315 protesters that the state news agency IRNA reported charged in Tehran on Saturday. At least five of them are accused of capital offences.

In a video shared on social media on Monday, the mother of 22-year-old Mohammad Ghobadlou said her son had been handed a death sentence two days ago in an initial court hearing, describing the verdict as unfair and appealing for help. She said that he was tried and "sentenced to death" in a session without the presence of his family and lawyer, adding that the authorities want to execute him as quickly as possible. 

The judiciary claims that Ghobadlou "killed an officer and injured several others" by running over the officers with his car during protests. 

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The judiciary has recently charged several arrested protesters with "corruption on earth," which is tantamount to a death sentence in the Islamic Republic. 

The public trials are meant as a threatening message to people, whose antigovernment protests are growing as they have started holding 40th-day mourning ceremonies for those who were killed in the protests, a culturally important tradition. 

On Saturday, Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Hossein Salami threatened people not to take to streets anymore saying that Saturday was the last day of protests.

Protests Continue On Monday

Despite a deadly crackdown – which has claimed the lives of nearly 300 protesters so far – and the regime’s psychological operation to intimidate the people, the protests are raging on a daily basis, with morning gatherings at university campuses and evening rallies in streets and neighborhoods. 

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on Saturday at least 283 protesters have been killed in the unrest, including 44 minors. Some 34 members of the security forces were also killed.

Videos posted on social media on Monday showed several rallies at universities in Tehran, Tabriz, Sanandaj and other cities, with slogans against the regime as well as the security forces. 

In Tabriz University of medical sciences, students chanted an increasingly popular protest slogan directed at the Iranian ‘morality police,’ calling them perverts. “I am a free woman!” they chanted. 

Among the most retweeted reports Monday was the open letter of resignation by the vice-chancellor of Bushehr Dental School in southern Iran. He said that he can no longer protect students “whose lives have been entrusted to us.” Students also held a sit-in in support of their classmates who have been arrested in the past few weeks. 

Protesters also began to gather in the streets of different cities, angered by the deaths of several teenage girls reportedly killed while demonstrating. 

Monday marked the 40th day after the death of 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, a victim of the protests that authorities claim she jumped from a neighbor’s rooftop and killed herself and her death was unrelated to protests. 

The 16-year-old YouTuber died on the way to hospital after being severely beaten in the head with batons while protesting the killing of Mahsa Amini. She had joined a protest in Karaj, a large city half an hour from the capital Tehran, on September 21. Her injury and death were verified by Amnesty International.

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Her friends and classmates held a vigil for her in the classroom and wrote some of her statements from her videos on social media on the board. 

Tehran residents held a protest at one of the most crowded subway stations, chanting “Death to Dictator,” referring to the Islamic Republic’s ruler Ali Khamenei.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a tweet, "We condemn the excessive violence of the security forces and stand by the people in Iran. Our EU sanctions are important. We are reviewing further steps."

"I am shocked that people who are peacefully demonstrating at protests in Iran are dying," he added.

Earlier in the day, the Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani described the condemnations over Tehran’s handling of popular protests as “intervention” in the country’s “internal affairs” and slammed Germany’s plans to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity.

Kanaani added that the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) is an official military organization of the Islamic Republic and sanctioning it would be “a totally illegal act.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday that her country and the European Union were examining whether to classify Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization for its use of violence in the protests.

Also on Monday, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced that Ottawa is imposing additional sanctions under the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations. This is the fourth package of sanctions imposed by Canada against the Iranian regime in response to its ongoing gross and systematic human rights violations and continued actions to destabilize peace and security.

In an interview with former State Department advisor Aaron David Miller Monday, Malley said media had failed to reflect the approach of the Biden administration, which had been “much broader” than its 18-month efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

Malley repeated his previous apology for a tweet October 23, which he noted had been attacked by some Iranians in the US as “diminishing the demands of the protestors.” The special envoy also referred to “some attacks against Iranian Americans…particularly against women…[that had been] been borderline threats, harassment, sometimes in a very sexualized way.”

Malley who has many opponents in the American Iranian community for his perceived weakness toward the clerical regime, praised the protesters and condemned the “gut-wrenching violence” violence against women and girls by the government.

An online petition launched by activist Masih Alinejad last week asking President Joe Biden to replace him has received more than 117,000 signatures.

Malley said that he understands the community’s emotions at this sensitive moment, seeing the struggle by the people in Iran and government’s violent response.

Defending the Biden administration’s handling of JCPOA talks,on hold since September, Malley said there was “no long-term sustainable solution other than a diplomatic one” to block Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an aim Tehran denies.

But the White House envoy insisted that while engaged in the nuclear talks, the US had also been “pushing back” against Iran’s “proliferation of drones, missiles, its interference in other countries, its attacks against some of its neighbors…” This had been both through US sanctions, Malley said, and through other actions including military strikes “on at least two occasions against Iranian-affiliated militia in Syria.”

In one attack in August, the US reportedly killed six militants from a militia group it said had launched drones targeting the al-Tanf American garrison in the south-east of the country. Such actions had taken place “regardless of whether the nuclear negotiations are succeeding or not,” Malley said, “…regardless of whether there is a JCPOA or not…”

Malley insisted that US policy towards Iran was within a worldwide dimension: “The president made this clear, not just about Iran, but about our global policy, which is to put human rights and the defense of human rights back at the center of our foreign policy.”

Malley was pressed by the interviewer Miller over the limits to “transformative uses of American power.” Miller cited as lacking “much success” the US role in the ‘Arab Spring,’ the largely failed Middle East uprisings of 2010-12, Washington’s military interventions including Iraq, and its support to the “Sunni opposition” – against President Bashar al-Assad – in Syria.

“Our policy [with Iran] is not one of intervening to try to foment regime change,” Malley replied, arguing the US role had to be “very realistic” as well as “very ambitious.” He cited Washington’ removal of the threat of punitive action under US sanctions against technology and Internet companies dealing with Iran. He said there would be “more sanctions” against Iran and that the US would initiate “more steps in international forums.”

According to reports, Farhoud was arrested by the security forces at his home Sunday morning, and there has been no information about where and why he was taken. 

The renowned scientist had earlier criticized the Islamic Republic for its violation of women's rights.

Earlier this year, Farhoud criticized the regime’s plans to ban pre-natal screening and legal abortions, describing them as violations of human rights. He called them a backward move to 200 years ago. 

The government's population and family planning policies include a ban on contraceptives, vasectomy and tubectomy, and prenatal screening for genetic abnormalities and congenital diseases.

Moreover, the parliament has passed legislation to outlaw tubectomy, vasectomy, and the free dispensation of contraceptives other than where pregnancy would threaten a woman's health. The health ministry has advised women over 35 to wait only a year before becoming pregnant again and under-35s to wait six months.

Medical experts have warned that the new legislation would also increase sexually transmitted diseases by restricting access to condoms.

Earlier in the year, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said efforts to increase the country's population are among the most urgent duties and essential policies of the Islamic Republic.

Foreign ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani in his weekly briefing on Monday said that the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) is an official military organization of the Islamic Republic and sanctioning it would be “a totally illegal act.”

“Statements by German officials about sanctioning the IRGC, following unconstructive and irresponsible actions by this country, emanates from their wrong approach toward the government and people of Iran,” Kanaani claimed. He added, Iran “hopes that Germany and other countries who have a plan in this regard, will pay attention to their unconstructive actions and not sacrifice their bilateral relations to passing political issues and emotional decisions.”

Iran’s security forces have killed at least 270 citizens since protests broke out in mid-September when a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini was killed in ‘morality police’ custody. The government has deployed tens of thousands of regular IRGC troops, its Basij militia and plainclothes agents to attack protesters. Thousands have been arrested and more than 1,000 already indicted for participating in demonstrations.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday that her country and the European Union were examining whether to classify Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization for its use of violence in the protests.

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"I made it clear last week that we will launch another package of sanctions, that we will examine how we can also list the Revolutionary Guards [IRGC] as a terrorist organization," Baerbock said in an interview with ARD broadcaster on Sunday.

The IRGC is already listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Tehran tried hard during the long nuclear negotiations in 2021 and 2022 to have Washington lift the designation. The Biden Administration called such demands extraneous to the nuclear talks.

The negotiations have paused since August over Iran’s demands, which are unacceptable for the United States. When Tehran adopted its position in response to an EU draft proposal, protests had not started and now it finds itself in more international isolation than two months ago.

US and Albania have also proposed an informal UN Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in Iran. The format of the meeting is called the “Arria formula”, after its originator, Diego Arria, a Venezuelan ambassador who in 1992 initiated the first informal meeting of the Council to discuss the crisis in former Yugoslavia. The meetings take place in a non-rigid setup where member states can hear comments by individuals and non-state actors.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman on Monday dismissed the significance of the meeting and claimed that the aim of the meeting is to put “political pressure on the Islamic Republic,” and is the continuation of a clear policy of interference by the American government in Iran’s internal developments.”

Kanaani criticized the US for planning to ask Iranian expatriate activists to testify during the informal Security Council meeting, calling such individuals “known elements” with Iranian identity, who in the past never raised their voice against US sanctions.

The spokesman again repeated Iranian denials about supplying military drones to Russia used against civilian targets in Ukraine. Kanaani said that Tehran has never supplied weapons to the warring sides. The denials come as the United States and others have raised strong objections to the deployment of mostly suicide drones and Ukraine has produced evidence obtained from downed UAVs.