Secrecy In Iran’s New Privatization Plan Raises Corruption Concerns

“We avoided participation in Fajr Film Festival in the past few years but this year we are [even] ashamed our names [mentioned] in the festival. We would stop the film’s screening if we had any option to do so,” Baran Kowsari, Mani Haghighi, Hanieh Tavassoli, Ali Mosaffa, Fereshteh Hosseini, Nahal Dashti, and Amir-Hossein Fathi said in a statement published on Instagram.

Alluding to the name of the film they all played in, 'Why aren’t you crying?', Hanieh Tavassoli said on social media that in the past few months she has “been crying a lot” and that she did not have the mental strength to take part in the festival. “The film’s participation at any event is not and will not be my choice or decision.”

The film’s producer, Reza Mohaghegh, who has submitted the film to the festival, apparently without the consent of others, is the son-in-law of a high-ranking Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) official.

Director Kiumars Pourahmad whose ‘Case Is Open’ has also been submitted to the festival by its producer in an Instagram post said he withdraws from the festival.

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Presumably referring to the IRGC’s extensive involvement in the film industry, Pourahmad protested that in the past few years the festival has turned from “Iran's film festival” into “a certain entity’s festival”.

Mohammad-Ali Talebi, Slovakia-based writer and film director told Iran International that IRGC-affiliated film companies such as Ofogh and Owj are spending huge sums to make films and driving most independent filmmakers out of the industry. Those who are withdrawing from the festival have taken a remarkable step because this means that they will no more have a chance of working in Iran, he said.

During this time, he explained, the festival meant nothing to him and even less so “in this bloody and grim year”. “What’s the point of celebrating, what’s the point of a festival, with all the sorrow [for the deaths of hundreds of protesters] that sits in our hearts?” he wrote.

The Fajr Film Festival has existed since 1982, highlighting Iranian cinema for 10 days, during a period known as the Ten Days of Dawn (Fajr). The first day of the Ten Days of Dawn marks the anniversary of the return of Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran from Paris and its last day, the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The film festival and its sister theater festival have been losing their past aura and popularity over the years. Filmmakers and actors have been periodically boycotting the event, including in 2019, in protest to state violence against protesters.

Meanwhile, the head of the state broadcaster (IRIB), Payman Jebelli in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi has demanded that Filimo, an online subscription video on-demand service similar to Netflix, be blocked on the internet.

Jebelli has cited the screening of Collapse series because one of its main actors, Hamid Farrokhnezhad, has recently left Iran, joined the opposition, and backed a revolution and the return of the former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, to Iran.

Hamid Farrokhnejad, in a post on his Instagram compared Ali Khamenei with other dictators such as Francisco Franco, Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini, saying he is “mentally ill” just like his “colleagues”. “Over time, all dictators have the illusion of imagining themselves as God, and they think they are absolutely right and eternal…but they are all mentally ill,” he said.

Presenting the budget bill to the parliament last week, Raisi claimed there is proof that his administration has succeeded in creating over 900,000 new jobs as he had promised during his campaign.

“This claim is so strange and far from reality that I prefer not to talk about,” Kamal Athari, development researcher and economist told Bahar News Tuesday, adding that such claims are easy to make in the absence of reliable data. “How is it possible for employment to increase when the rate of economic growth has been declining?” he asked.

He also said it is noteworthy that during Raisi’s presidency even the jobs created before the pandemic and when the nuclear deal with world powers, JCPOA, was in effect were lost and inflation and people’s loss of income is threatening others such as the hospitality sector.

Athari also criticized the government for lack of coordination and an overall disorientation. “They have no plans for dealing with inflationary stagnation in the housing sector but they name housing as the engine of growth,” he said.

The claim was repeated by the Minister of Labor Seyed Sowlat Mortazavi Tuesday. “The government has succeeded in creating one million job in one year as it had promised,” he said.

Khorasan newspaper, which supports the Raisi Administration and is linked to the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, criticized Mortazavi and said the claim was in contradiction with the figures released by the Statistics Center of Iran (SCI) which shows from September 2021 to September 2022 the number of people with employment only rose by 535,000. This meant, Khorasan pointed out, that 465,000 jobs were lost even if one million jobs were created as the government claims.

Figures released by the SCI indicate that over 665,000 new job seekers of fifteen-years-old and above have entered the job market during the same period.

Speaking to Nameh News website Wednesday, Mohammad Mohajeri, a conservative journalist, warned that officials provide “fake statistics” to the president. Their eagerness to create an illusion of “achievements” would have dire consequences for the government, he maintained.

“I don’t know how long this unhelpful attitude of officials has to continue for the government to realize that faking achievements and statistics will cause the downfall of the government,” Mohajeri said, adding that there is also a concern that there may be brave experts in the government whose warnings are being ignored. “This is even a bigger calamity.”

Many on both sides of Iran's political spectrum have criticized Raisi and his government for inefficiency and lack of planning while blaming all shortcomings on previous governments including Raisi’s immediate predecessor Hassan Rouhani.

Rising Inflation and depreciation of the national currency, rial, which have been problems since 2018 when President Donald Trump left the 2015 nuclear deal are now turning into serious crises the government seems unable to address.

The point-to-point inflation rate reported by the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) for the past Iranian month, which ended on January 20, has surpassed 50 percent, with food inflation hitting an average of over 70 percent.

In its latest report the SCI put overall inflation at 51 percent, taking into account 12 groups of goods and services. The highest jump was reported in the hotel and restaurant sector with 78.5 percent, followed by food.

Mehdi Hajian, the Spokesman of Iran’s Police said Saturday that the text messages are sent to vehicle owners who have not been wearing proper hijab in their vehicles.

In an interview with Fars news agency, affiliated with the IRGC, Hajian emphasized that according to the Islamic Penal Code, the police have a "duty" to send text messages to vehicles whose passengers do not wear the mandatory hijab.

In the past weeks, social media users reported that after a pause during the uprising of the Iranian people against the clerical rulers, the police resumed warning women with text messages. The practice is a few years old and previously women who were warned had to go to a police station and sign a pledge.

After the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in mid-September, many women showed opposition to the mandatory hijab and refused to wear headscarves in public places.

On January 10, the Prosecutor's Office of the Islamic Republic issued a directive ordering the police to deal decisively with "hijab removal".

According to the directive, the main punishment for removing hijab is between ten days to two months of imprisonment, but the courts can sentence those arrested to paying a fine and supplementary punishments.

Imanabadi added in an interview with Rouydad24 website that poverty and unemployment will rise in the next Iranian year which starts on March 21. According to the former lawmaker the gap between socio-economic classes in Iran is also going to widen next year. All this, he said, indicates that "the future is going to be bleak" for Iranians.

Referring to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's promising remarks about low inflation and high economic growth, Imanabadi further charged that "Iran's economy has not grown and the statistics in this regard are wrong. Either President Ebrahim Raisi is being fed with wrong information or he is not interested in telling the truth."

He complained that "Those who worked hard for this country for 40 years are now out of a job and are replaced by a bunch of liars who run the country."

Speaking along the same lines, Hassan Khomeini, a grandson of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, who was "advised" by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei not to run in 2021 presidential vote, also said in an interview with reformist news website Jamaran that the 1979 revolution brought about a sizeable middle class in Iran which has disappeared as a result of the current economic crisis in Iran.

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Speaking about the increasing hardship today, Khomeini warned that poverty which is the outcome of oppression will eventually lead to a revolution.

Speaking about the ongoing protests in Iran, he said the government should not try to win or keep the power at any rate. He added: "The solution to the country's current situation is holding a dialogue with the people." Meanwhile he called for putting an end to violence in the confrontation with the protesters.

He added that when the people become angry those who are underprivileged will revolt and when it spreads, "there will be a revolution to change the society's leader, structure and ideology."

This is the clearest warning given to the Iranian government by a well-known cleric about a looming revolution in Iran.

Khomeini, addressed the reformist National Trust Party, told the party's leaders not to be shy about voicing their demands. "Stand on your feet and be bold," he said.

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Regardless of Imanabadi’s and Khomeini's warnings about the dangers of increasing poverty, Labor Minister Solat Mortazavi claimed in an interview with Aftab News websitethat there is no “absolute poverty” in Iran. This comes while according to Aftab News, Mortazavi himself was a victim of absolute poverty when he used to live in Baba Heydar village in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiary Province before joining the government and becoming a rich man.

Mortazavi started his career as Basij commander in his village. Aftab News further charged that of course there is no absolute poverty in Mr. Mortazavi's family because he has given good jobs to his sons!

Aftab News further quoted Hamid Haj Esmaili, a researcher in the area of labor and poverty, as saying that "Eliminating absolute poverty is one of the responsibilities of the government. However, poverty has been constantly on the rise after the 1979 revolution. He added that some 30 million Iranians are depending on charity organizations for their daily meal which is a high figure for a country with 85 million people.

Esmaili added that some 67 million Iranians depend on the subsidy for fuel and in all, some 74 million receive some sort of cash handouts. He estimated that some 70 million Iranians suffer from absolute or relative poverty.

Atefeh Ahmadi, Iran's number one skier and the flag bearer of the national teams in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has told Iran International that she does not intend to participate in these competitions and has applied for asylum in Germany.

The 22-year-old was the only Iranian woman to qualify for the Beijing Games. She is also the winner of five Asian medals and several gold medals in the Turkish Alpine Skiing International Championships.

She is a silver medalist in the Super-G event of the 2018 Asian Alpine Ski Championships.

Her father was a member of the Iranian national cross-country skiing team. He also became the first coach for Atefeh and her sister Hadis.

Around 30 Iranian athletes have defected in recent years, seeking asylum in other countries.

In addition to dress code restrictions, another issue forcing Iranian athletes to defect is Tehran’s policy of not allowing them to compete against Israelis.

Many Iranian athletes have also displayed solidarity with 2022 protest movement at international games despite threats of punishment.

Authorities have made serious threats against athletes and other celebrities to stop them from public displays of solidarity with protesters but to no avail.