Journalists In Iran Outraged Over Government Witch Hunt

Foreign ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani in his weekly media briefing likened Iran International’s coverage of recent protests to “a war room” and an “operations room against the nation of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” This is the first time that an Iranian official uses the term “Islamic Republic nation”, instead of the Iranian people or the Iranian nation.

The Islamic Republic regards broadcasting in Persian from abroad as hostile because media outlets such as the BBC Persian, Voice of America, Iran International, Radio Farda (RFE/RL) and others break the monopoly over news and information the government in Iran has imposed since 1979.

Since the ongoing antigovernment protests began in mid-September, all media in Iran that are either owned or controlled by the state have largely ignored or misrepresented the popular movement, calling it lawlessness and riots. The Islamic Republic wants to suppress the news about protests and has all but shut down access to the Internet.

The accusation against Iran International comes while earlier Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called the protests "unimportant".

Kanaani insinuated that Iran International belongs to Saudi Arabia and that Tehran has complained to Riyadh about the network in the past.

Iran International and its sister channel, Afghanistan International, are “editorially independent television channels owned by Volant Media,” a company based in London and owned by a Saudi Arabian/British citizen; it has no state backing or affiliation.

Yashar Soltani, who has spent some time in jail in 2016 for disclosing financial corruption at Tehran Municipality under current parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, added in an interview with Etemad Online that the way government treats financial corruption is woefully disappointing.

The multi-billion dollar case involving the former mayor, a figure close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, ended in the arrest of Isa Sharifi, one of Ghalibaf's deputies and was finally pushed under the carpet although Khamenei in 2018 called for investigation into the case. Sharifi's name came up once again in February 2022 along with Ghalibaf's in a major corruption case at the IRGC, which also remained inconclusive after a few weeks of controversy stirred by rival political factions in Iran.

The controversy about the IRGC corruption case was silenced soon possibly because even former IRGC Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani was also involved, as revealed in an audio tape that was leaked in the public domain presumably by those who benefitted from the revelations.

As a whistleblower who has been exposing financial corruption in Iran since the 1990s, Soltani says that corrupt individuals have never left the system even after their performance was exposed, and corruption is constantly on the rise. He added that the Iranian justice system discriminates in favor of corrupt individuals when they are close to the core of the regime, namely Khamenei's household.

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He said: "Fighting corruption is part of the people's demands as the magnitude of government corruption is so high that the regime has no way but to try to control it through introducing reforms in the system." However, he acknowledged that most of the rhetoric about fighting government corruption is just a show, often with the intention of winning the people's attention at election times or to calm the situation when there are major protests.

Soltani pointed out that while corruption trials were held openly and the people could watch hearings on live TV in the 1990s, corruption cases are now shrouded in an aura of secrecy. Soltani reiterated that as long as talk about corruption is aimed at beatifying the political system or garnering support for a group of candidates, there will be no hope in controlling it.

Nonetheless, there seems to be some progress in the process. "When I disclosed the astronomical real estate case [in Tehran municipality] in 2016, I was jailed immediately, but five years later I was called for consultation for writing a new law to prevent that kind of corruption as part of which the Municipality gave land and buildings to influential individuals to garner their support," Soltani recalled.He added that regardless of his help, the Iranian Judiciary has been summoning him during the past 11 years to subtly warn him about his whistleblowing activity.

"They ask why me and not the intelligence agencies investigate a case. Well, the intelligence agencies did their own research but what they got nowhere because there are flaws in the structure of the government," he said, adding that, "There are only four or five people who continue as whistleblowers, and all of them like me work single-handedly without any support from anyone in the system."

Referring to the problems in the system, he said the corruption case at the Petrochemical Complex (PCC) was a major case. But there were a few stage-managed court sessions and nothing more happened.

He was referring to a case of hundreds of million of dollars embezzled by officials who were tasked to sell Iran’s petrochemical products through obscure channels and return the money to the treasury during international sanction in 2010-2013.

Soltani concluded: "There are so many inconclusive cases about financial corruption in Iran. In a corrupt structure you cannot claim to be dealing with corruption."

In an open letter, published in The New York Times on Sunday, the preeminent leaders expressed their solidarity with Iranian women and girls, as well as men, who are holding daily protests for more than 40 days across the country and abroad following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini. 

Signatories of the letter include former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama, Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and media tycoon Oprah Winfrey as well as Nobel laureates Malala Yousafzai and Nadia Murad.

They also launched a petition on www.womanlifefreedom.today that calls on the United Nations to expel the Islamic Republic from the commission, receiving more than 21,000 signatures within the first few days of going live. Additionally, more than 130,000 petitioners have also signed another letter asking for the same outcome on Change.org.

Lamenting the Islamic Republic's record on women's rights and the brutal violence of security forces against peaceful protesters, they said, “Earlier this year, to the dismay of women's rights advocates around the world, Iran began a four–year term on the UN's 45–member Commission on the Status of Women. This preeminent global body is exclusively dedicated to promoting gender equality and women's empowerment. The Islamic Republic of Iran's long–standing, systematic oppression of women should have disqualified them from election to the CSW."

According to information obtained by Iran International, Reza Haqiqatnejad was buried in an area far from his hometown in the southern Fars province without the permission of his family. The reason for the secret burial without any funeral service is not clear since he was not a member of any opposition group. The only explanation can be an IRGC attempt at revenge since he was a top analyst who exposed the regime’s contradictions and weaknesses.

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The IRGC had taken away Haqiqatnejad’s body after his coffin arrived in Iran, preventing his burial in his hometown of Shiraz. 

In a video message released on social media, the deceased journalist’s elderly mother had pleaded with authorities to let her see and bury his son. Haqiqatnejad, 45, passed away in Berlin after six months of battling cancer. He died on October 17 and his body was repatriated to Iran for burial on October 25.

He worked for Radio Farda, a Persian broadcaster in Prague financed by the US Congress.

His family had made arrangements for burial at a cemetery in Shiraz and acquired all the relevant permits but according to his relatives and friends, security forces have been pressuring the family to agree to his burial in a cemetery outside the city.

The abduction of his body drew numerous reactions by the public, who said the Islamic Republic is even afraid of his dead body.

Ali Khan-Mohammadi, the spokesperson of Iran’s Headquarters For Enjoining Right And Forbidding Evil, tasked with promoting the Islamic Republic’s interpretation of Islamic laws, said on Sunday that the body has signed an agreement with the country’s judiciary to use Basij paramilitary forces as hijab enforcers. 

According to the new agreement, the roles of mosques and local Basij bases will increase in the enforcement of dress code laws and commanders of Basij units will be ordained by the judiciary as official hijab enforcers.

Basij are religious zealots and a paramilitary force under the command of the Revolutionary Guard. Their involvement in hijab enforcement will further increase tensions in Iran.

Removing hijab is a legal offence by women, and the government’s position will not change in this regard, Khan-Mohammadi stressed. 

Since antigovernment protests started across the country in mid-September, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed in the custody of hijab, police, many Iranian women are now appearing in public places without headscarves to express solidarity with protesters.

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.