Iran State TV Airs ‘Confessions’ Of Alleged School Poisoning Culprits

The group, which calls itself the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom in Iran, announced its existence in a February event at Georgetown University's Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) -- titled ‘The Future of Iran’s Democracy Movement.' 

Exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Canada-based activist Hamed Esmaeilion, as well as US-based author, journalist and women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad, actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi and Secretary General of Komala Iranian Kurdish party Abdullah Mohtadi had said that they would release the charter that would lay the foundations for political representation of the aspirations of protesters in Iran and gain support for isolating the Islamic Republic.

The document is also called the Mahsa Charter in reference to “the murder of Mahsa (Jina) Amini and the beginning of the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution,” which has seen the people of Iran continuing to fight for freedom “to break the chains of injustice, discrimination and tyranny.”

Emphasizing that the way to building a free and democratic Iran is to overcome the Islamic Republic regime, they said, “Reaching this ultimate goal necessitates the three elements of unison, organization and relentless continuity in activism.”

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They said the charter relies initially on activities outside of the country, underlining that the isolation of the Islamic government internationally is a first and necessary step for a democratic change. 

The charter calls for international pressure on the Islamic Republic to halt all death sentences and to immediately release all political prisoners without condition; expulsion of the regime’s ambassadors and all its dependents by democratic governments and acknowledging the alliance of opposition figures as well as their charter; and facilitating any means necessary to aid the people of Iran. 

“Subsequent actions will take place with the participation of activists inside Iran to focus on fair transitional justice, the formation of a council for the transition of power, and the means by which power is transferred to a secular, democratic government,” reads the charter, adding that “The Alliance will introduce actionable initiatives using democratic methods to be implemented at the earliest opportunity in order to bring to fruition the civil action struggles of the people of Iran.”

The members of the alliance have repeatedly said that anyone who accepts the core values of the group is welcome to join them, but until now there had not been a clear explanation for their main values. They enumerated 17 common values for a democratic Iran, noting that the form of the future government will be a secular-democratic system determined through a referendum. “All political and official members of the state shall be elected through a free and democratic election process whereby citizens of all beliefs, ethnicities, gender and sexual orientation be afforded dignity and equal rights before the law.”

The need to maintain the territorial integrity of Iran while accepting diversity in language, ethnicity, religion and culture; and to decentralize power by deferring financial, bureaucratic and policy making affairs to elected provincial, city, and regional administrations is also among the values. 

The charter also talks about the formation of an independent organization to supervise elections and the acceptance of domestic and international monitoring of elections, which would result in “a new national constitution through an inclusive and transparent process.” “The new constitution shall adhere to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in its entirety.” 

The charter also mentions the abolition of the death penalty and any corporal punishment and enacting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as well as the establishment of an independent judicial system in accordance with international standards. It calls for Justice for all victims of the Islamic Republic through fact finding commissions under the auspices of fair and independent courts including the right to independent legal representation.

One of main points of the charter is the abolition of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp – or the IRGC -- and all of its subsidiaries. “The possibility to integrate IRGC elements into other armed forces such as the army may only be possible in the absence of involvement in crimes and based on necessary qualifications,” it said, adding that “The military shall only be responsible to defend the territorial integrity of the country.”

It also called for “cooperation and peaceful relations with all countries in the world, and to cease all interference in the affairs of other countries, and to join the International Criminal Court.” Joining the International Convention on Nuclear Safety and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) were key values in the charter. 

“To overcome the Islamic Republic’s tyranny, all Iranians who are committed to freedom must unite. The courage of the people of Iran and their persistent fight for freedom shall be the bright beacon of hope for our future. Let us stand united in the creation of a free tomorrow," the charter concluded. 

Following the Friday prayers and sermons by Sunni leader of the city Mowlavi Abdolhamid, people held demonstrations chanting “We don’t want a child-killing regime.”

The outspoken cleric’s sermons contained fewer disparaging remarks about the regime compared with previous weeks, but he kept criticizing the ruling power for discrimination and bloody crackdown on dissent. 

He said the country is in a deadlock in domestic and foreign policies, and called for fundamental change “according to people’s demands.” “The problems will not be solved until the rights of minorities, women and youth are respected," he noted. 

Abdolhamid described "national interests, security and freedom of all Iranians and justice for all throughout Iran" as the basic priorities of the country. 

He also touched on the issues specific to the people of the province, such as lack of drinking water and the government not issuing identification documents for people residing there.

Forces under the command of the Revolutionary Guard have killed well over 100 people in the Baluch-populated region since September 30 when the bloodiest crackdown took place in Zahedan.

The Sunni people of the city of Galikesh in Golestan province, where there are also large Sunni Baluch communities living for decades, held gatherings in support of their Mowlavi (Imam), Mohammad-Hossein Gorgij, who has reportedly been put under house arrest. 

At a meeting of the State Social Council Thursday, President Ebrahim Raisi described women’s abidance by veiling laws as a “sharia requirement” and said all authorities are of the same mind on this matter. “It is necessary for everyone to feel responsible, and although some people may have different opinions on this matter, in social life, adherence to legal standards should be considered as a principle".

He also claimed that the social experience of the Islamic Revolution has shown that the Iranian women themselves are adamant on keeping the veiling as a priority to ensure their safety and security in the society while also calling on all responsible entities to support those who practice ‘amr-e be marouf’, that is, calling others to enjoin what is good and forbid them from doing what is wrong.

This video shows a veiled woman taking photos of two young girls on the street and telling them the photos will be used to identify them with face recognition software.

Raisi’s very influential father-in-law, Ahmad Alamolhoda, who represents Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Khorasan-e Razavi Province, urged “pious” women and men not to allow the women in the Iranian society unveil. Making similar remarks about individual’s responsibility to enforce the hijab last week he had implied that the regime and its security apparatus are no longer able to take the burden of stopping those who defy the compulsory hijab.

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Several videos have emerged on social media in the past few days of disputes in public over veiling between its proponents and the women who are now defiantly appearing ‘hijabless’ in public.

“You live in an Islamic society and you must abide by its law,” a veiled woman holding a baby in her lap in a city bus is seen telling another woman in a video apparently taken in Isfahan, but the ‘hijabless’ young woman who is filming the incident with her mobile phone, objects and tells her how she dresses is none of other people’s business. The veiled woman threatens her with filming her, sending it to authorities and causing her trouble in getting into university for her defiance of the hijab.

A veiled woman being thrown out of an underground car by a crowd of young girls after trying to exhort them about observance of hijab.

To enforce the veiling rules the regime has always used the so-called ‘morality police’ as well as organized groups of male and female Basij militia. It was in custody of the morality police that the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini suffered injuries that led to her death in September, fueling the longest-ever anti-regime protests in the country.

The morality police have been keeping a very low profile in the past few months but on Wednesday hardliner female lawmaker Zohre Elahian said in a tweet that Basijis held their first “verbal warning (amr-e be marouf) maneuver” in some areas of the capital.

“The devout Basijis’ act, after the recent domestic and foreign riots and seditions in the country, is unprecedented,” she tweeted with a hashtag calling on authorities for support.

A video posted Wednesday on Twitter showed a long line of black-veiled women parading on a street in Isfahan in central Iran. The post called the parade “the great and mighty maneuver of chaste Isfahani ladies.”

These “maneuvers” seem to be part of a larger initiative planned to bring anti-compulsory hijab movement under control before more women flaunt the hijab rules in the intense heat of the summer.

There is no official record of Behnoush Bahraminia's arrest or indictment, but her family claim two Iranian sources informed them that the regime has locked her up for "super threats to national security."

Typical of the charges alleged against dual-national hostages imprisoned without trial as Iran tries to negotiate for prisoner swaps around the world, Behnoush was traveling to Iran with her partner when she was forcefully disappeared.

Her father Amir Bahraminia told Global News that his daughter who lived in Metro Vancouver since 2013, was not a political person.

“She is in trouble. I know she is in Iran. I haven’t heard her voice and I haven’t seen her,” he said.

Bahraminia had previously traveled to Iran to visit family with no issues but on the last trip to Iran with her partner, Majid (Matthew) Safari, her family lost contact with her after landing in Tehran on November 6, 2021.

Safari, also an Iranian-Canadian, has also not been heard of by the family since Bahraminia's arrest. It is believed he planned to buy an apartment on the contested Kish Island in the south of Iran, for which the UAE is still battling for sovereignty.

The office of Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Joly, told Global Affairs Canada they are aware of the case and are gathering further information to provide consular assistance. Unlike other high profile cases, the Islamic Republic has yet made no public announcement on the situation.

Teachers and activists who organized gatherings and protests to express concern over the health of students, were also summoned by the judicial authorities.

During Tuesday's nationwide protests against the serial poisonings, the law enforcement forces violently attacked teachers and parents in different cities by firing tear gas while several were arrested.

At least 297 poisonings have been reported in girls' schools in 25 Iranian provinces since November 30when the first attack occurred in the religious city of Qom, believed to be led by regime agents in a bid to quash students' support of the 'woman, life, freedom' movement.

The chemical attacks were not limited to schools, and in the past days, female students at university dormitories have also been targeted. Nearly two thousand students have been taken to hospitals and medical centers so far.

Meanwhile, summonses and sentences for civil, political and student activists continue. In a recent case, a revolutionary court sentenced children’s rights activist Samaneh Asghari to 18 years and three months in prison, of which six years and three months can be enforced.

Samaneh Asghari, an industrial engineering student at Kharazmi University, was arrested on October 19 during a protest in Tehran.

Leila Hosseinzadeh, a political activist, and student has also tweeted that she has been summoned by the ministry of intelligence.