Iranian Political Prisoner To Represent Herself In Public Trial

This 68-page report examines the issues of speed, limitations, and disruptions and reveals that Iran's internet is among the most disrupted and limited in the world, with internet speeds ranking among the five slowest globally. The report places Iran's internet quality as the second most disrupted after Myanmar and the second most limited after China.

The report also highlights data from Cloudflare, ranking Iran 97 out of 100 countries in terms of average internet speed, with only Sudan, Cameroon, and Cuba having slower speeds.

Despite the documented evidence highlighting the unfavorable situation of internet access in Iran, the authorities, including the Minister of Communications, have consistently described the network's quality as adequate and high-speed, downplaying the dismal situation.

It is widely known that regime authorities and the country's elite do not suffer the same poor quality as the masses, not least, those in rural areas. This has been compounded by mass crackdowns on sites and social media platforms as the regime aims to quash dissent.

The report explains that Iran's internet filtering involves three lists: white, gray, and black. Authorized websites are placed on the white list, unauthorized websites on the blacklist, and a significant portion of the domains and IPs, referred to as the gray list, face "intentional" disruptions.

The study reveals that the equipment used by filtering institutions in Iran intentionally disrupts around 50% of the data sent to addresses on the gray list. In other words, any internet traffic not recognized by authorized institutions and not on the whitelist automatically faces disruption.

The association holds various entities, including the Ministry of Communications, the Prosecutor's Office, judicial institutions, the Commission for Determining Criminal Instances, the Supreme National Security Council, and "some security institutions," responsible for the dire state of the internet in Iran.

The group of teachers launched a campaign on Friday to collect 100,000 signatures calling for the release of detained educators and an end to their harassment.

Esmail Abdi, a teachers’ union leader who has been in prison since 2015 backed the initiative by sending a message from jail. He said that the extent of repression against teachers has expanded in recent years.

Teachers' Unions of Tehran, Markazi, North Khorasan, Kordestan, and Eslamshahr have also supported the campaign.

In a statement they said the Islamic Republic's security and judicial institutions have issued long-term prison sentences for protesting teachers in various provinces, while hundreds of others have been dismissed or forced into early retirement.

Last week, 1,200 teachers sent a letter to the heads of the three branches of government asking them to release detained union activists and end harassment by security forces, claiming the Judiciary continues to fabricate legal cases against union members. However, the president and the head of the judiciary refused to accept the letter.

Teachers maintain that they have pursued their demands through peaceful and legal means for two decades, but the Islamic Republic has always dealt with them through force and intimidation.

Teachers have been demanding higher wages and pensions for years, one of the lowest paid government employees. In the 2010s, government appointed officials embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars from their pension fund, without any serious consequences.

Tavakoli is a student leader, human rights activist, and political prisoner and was arrested at least three times by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence during the student protests over the disputed Presidential Election of 2009.

Charges include espionage and creating propaganda against the state.

In response to allegations that he cross-dressed as a disguise to avoid arrest, a campaign protesting his imprisonment featured men posting photos of themselves wearing hijab.

He was arrested again during the Iranian protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in September.

Tavakoli announced the news if his sentence on Twitter and said in addition to his prison sentence he has received a two year ban on online activities, a two year ban from staying in Tehran, and a two year travel ban.

“This verdict is issued only because of my writings in the last few years. Due to my insistence on independent activity, there is no evidence of such activities or connection with the hostile government,” read his tweet.

It is all too common for activists to be falsely accused of such charges of espionage and colluding with foreign groups, for which the regime justifies they pay a heavy price in its brutal jails.

Speaking to Dideban-e Iran news website Monday, lawyer and women’s rights activist Shima Ghoosheh said the new move smacks of wartime measures.

“We can’t send a judge to make a ruling there and then and carry out the law. This is in opposition with all of the principles of human rights, rights of defendants, due process and logical principles that any rational person abides by,” she said.

“I’m not sure if they even have as many judges as they have patrol vans, or if they can hold field courts inside these vans. We don’t even have something as a field court [in Iranian laws],” she said.

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The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) linked Tasnim news agency reported the news of the standby judges, in place to decide whether women who have refused to abide by the compulsory hijab rules on the streets should be detained or could be released with only a verbal warning. 

Iran's hijab police street patrols have again appeared in the streets of Tehran and some other larger cities after months of laying low, for the fear of igniting another round of anti-regime protests. But their comeback has once again roused fear and hatred on Iran’s streets.

The death of a young Kurd, Mahsa (Jina) Amini, in the custody of morality police in September, sparked nationwide protests that lasted several months. The 22-year-old had received fatal blows to the head at the time of her arrest.

Hundreds were killed and thousands were arrested by security forces during the protests which somehow subsided after around four months. Since then, however, many women have chosen to disobey the rules of compulsory hijab and also as a means of demonstrating their opposition to the regime.

Former reformist lawmaker, Fatemeh Rakei, said the reappearance of the morality police defies logic, given the controversy which ensued following the death of young Amini. She called the body an “illegal entity” in an article she penned in the Etemad newspaper.

Rakei who has always worn the hijab, also pointed out that many Iranian citizens, including women who wear the hijab by choice, as well as religious men, are opposed to forcing the hijab and religion on people and warned that the return of morality police patrol could cause tension amid ever worsening economic hardships once again.

The mass wave of hijab refusal has left the regime at a loss. In spite of brutal crackdowns, women continue to walk in public places uncovered, in defiance of the mandatory rules which have been in place since the Islamic Republic was declared in 1979.

Hardliners have been using a language of both threats and supplication about the ever-increasing defiance. Speaking at an event Monday, IRGC Commander Hossein Salami continued to push the morality argument, associating uncovered women with the likes of prostitutes and ‘loose women’. 

“When Islam spreads in neighborhoods, hijab and chastity will too. And our virtuous and pure women who have come under the enemy’s propaganda, will return [to abide with the compulsory hijab rules],” he said.

In a meeting with his advisors, Mohammad Khatami said: "It seems that the danger of self-overthrow, which has been talked about many times, stands out more than ever with the return of morality police."

The ‘morality’ police in Iran have returned to the streets of Tehran and other cities ahead of the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death in police custody last September, which triggered mass unrest in its wake.

The spokesman of Iran’s Police announced Sunday that special patrols are now deployed to deal with the continued wave of hijab rebels. Saeed Montazerolmahdi said those who "still insist on breaking the norms" will be dealt with.

On Monday, Khatami, who was president for eight years, said he was surprised by the "imprudence of the key officials" of the Islamic Republic because such “wrong methods will make the society more tense than before.”

Meanwhile, Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guard, said the decision to enforce the mandatory hijab by police was ordered by President Ebrahim Raisi, Interior Minister Ahmed Vahidi, and the judiciary. "The police are forced to execute this plan along with all their other duties," wrote Tasnim.

A video which went viral on Saturday showed Tehran's morality police arresting a teenage girl without compulsory hijab in the Gisha neighborhood.