More Iranian Filmmakers Defy Threats, Express Support For Protests

The group released a detailed report compiling evidence that the six-year detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on spying charges amounted to a crime under international law and cited other foreign and dual nationals detained in Iran “whose arbitrary detention may amount to hostage-taking.” Amnesty said it last month submitted its evidence to the British parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which has set up its own enquiry.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released and returned to London in March following the British government paying a £400-million ($500-million) debt to Iran outstanding since the 1970s.

“They used spurious national security charges and sham judicial proceedings against her with the aim of exerting pressure on the UK government to settle its debts,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Amnesty noted that after Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release “a slew of reports by Iranian state media outlets” stated “she had been released ‘in exchange’ for the payment.” These media reports “mirrored “almost identical statements made by the Iranian authorities to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family during her detention.”

But while both Iran and the United Kingdom were parties to International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages, requiring them to both prevent and to punish hostage-taking, Eltahawy argued, the “prevailing climate of impunity in Iran has emboldened the authorities to continue using dual and foreign nationals as political bargaining chips without any fear of consequences.”

Request extradition

“The Convention,” the Amnesty report explains, “defines the crime of hostage-taking as the seizure or detention of any person accompanied with threats to cause them harm including by killing, injuring or continuing to detain them in order to compel a third party, such as a state, to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage.”

Hence, Amnesty further argued, “where sufficient evidence exists” against Iranian officials, “the UK must request their extradition and prosecute the officials in line with international fair trial standards.”

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been critical of the British handling of her case, including one representative standing by in Tehran as she was required on release to sign a confession. In 2017, then British foreign secretary Boris Johnson told the House of Commons Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been in Iran “simply teaching people journalism” – rather than on holiday.

The Amnesty report also highlighted the cases of Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian doctor on death row, Austrian-Iranians Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb, German-Iranians Nahid Taghavi and Jamshid Sharmahd, and two British-Iranians Mehran Raoof and Morad Tahbaz (the last also a United States national). It noted the death in custody in March of 83-year-old Australian-Iranian national Shokrollah Jebeli “after the authorities deliberately denied him adequate specialized medical care and withheld his medication for his multiple serious health conditions.”

Speaking at a ceremony on Tuesday honoring the victims of the disaster, Ali Shamkhani tried to negate reports about his family’s connection with Hossein Abdolbaghi, the owner of the Metropol twin tower.

He said that while local and national authorities were doing their best to remove the physical debris and investigate the technical aspects of the incident, dissidents spread baseless rumors to mislead citizens.

So far, rescue workers have recovered 37 bodies, while reports say more than 30 people remain missing.

Iran International published two documents Friday that suggested a connection between Abdolbaghi and Mowud Shamkhani, Ali Shamkhani’s nephew, and other local officials who may have used their influence to help Abdolbaghi participate in large municipality-funded projects.

During the same ceremony, Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi Shahroudi, Khuzestan’s representative in the Assembly of Experts, expressed doubt about Abdolbaghi’s reported death, calling for an investigation. 

Authorities are accused by journalists and social media users of covering up his escape and claiming that he died in the incident.

Abdolbaghi, 40, was a well-known entrepreneur in Khuzestan with alleged strong connections with influential officials and centers of power.

The collapse of the building has led to ongoing protests in Abadan as well as in several other cities across the southwestern Khuzestan province who have been taking to the streets to demand accountability.

Anti-government protests have been taking place in many locations in Iran since early May, but since last week a new round of demonstrations have particularly rocked the oil-rich Khuzestan Province. The collapse of a 10-story building belonging to a well-connected businessman who ignored warnings, killing dozens of people angered residents of Abadan who have been taking to the streets to demand accountability.

The US administration remained silent which did not go unnoticed by Iran watchers and activists, who began asking questions on social media, while the Iranian government deployed thousands of specially trained “anti-riot” troops who confronted the protesters with tear gas, military weapons and systematic arrests.

The State Department spokesperson Ned Price was asked in his Tuesday press briefing if he had any comments or message to the Iranian people, considering that the protesters say they do not believe the Islamic Republic regime when it says the United States is Iran’s enemy.

Price said that the administration has “spoken very clearly about the ongoing protests” and “in the past spoken directly to the people of Iran”, saying “we stand with the Iranian people.” He added, “we call on the Iranian Government to respect the right of the Iranian people to peaceful protest, and not to repress what are their fundamental demands.”

The spokesperson was referring to earlier protests not the current round of demonstrations going on for a week. Also, observers pointed out that the administration has not gone beyond the level of the State Department spokesperson to voice support. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and even Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley have been silent.

This contrasts sharply with the Trump Administration, which voiced strong support for Iranian dissidents and protesters and leads to a perception among Iranians that the administration does not want to jeopardize the nuclear talks it started over a year ago to revive the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions, JCPOA.

Former State Department official Len Khodorkovsky in an opinion column for Iran International Tuesday spoke about how influential media in the West rarely mentions the protests in Iran. “As President Joe Biden is negotiating the latest version of the JCPOA, many in the media who supported the original deal want him to succeed, and are reluctant to draw attention to anything, like the protests, that may sabotage those efforts.”

Andrew Ghalili, an analyst at JINSA tweeted that US statements on protests in Iran have not gone beyond the State Department spokesman, adding, “This gets more unacceptable every day…”

Another Iran watcher, Jason Brodsky with the United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) advocacy group pointed out that the State Department’s social media posts in Persian completely ignore events in Iran and showcase topics such as the Grand Canyon and Virginia and Maryland shorelines.

In an interview published on Tuesday, Mostafa Nili said a message received from his client, civil and human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, and photojournalist Alieh Motalebzadeh said their lives are danger by one of the prisoners who is charged with murder and threatening to kill them to become famous. 

Pointing out that the prisoner had no "previous problems or conflicts" with Mohammadi and Motalebzadeh, he said that such threats without any history of disputes or conflicts seemed "suspicious".

Nili also said that following the death threat, several inmates with a history of violent crimes tried to provoke clashes twice with the prisoners of the political ward during visits to the prison infirmary. 

He added that the issue began with the threats to Mohammadi and Motalebzadeh, but since Sunday other political prisoners have also been threatened. Nili noted that prison authorities have not taken any action.

He said that such incidents are reminiscent of similar clashes between criminal prisoners and political detainees in recent years, such as the cases for Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, Atena Daemi, Shakila Monfared, and Saba Kord Afshari who were beaten in apparent clashes with other inmates. 

In 2019, political prisoner Alireza Shir-Mohammad-Ali was killed in Tehran’s Fashafoyeh Prison after he was stabbed in the neck and stomach by two inmates of the general ward.

Earlier in the year, Reporters Without Borders expressed concern for the lives of jailed activists who have been transferred to detention centers known to mistreat prisoners, including Qarchak women’s prison.

Iranians are blaming the death toll of almost 30 people on the ruling regime’s corruption and mismanagement, the permanent features of the Islamic Republic’s governance model.

But you wouldn’t know about the protests from the news. Coverage of Iran in the West has been dominated by nuclear negotiations, but there’s always been another story—about the Iranian people’s yearning for freedom.

Iranian People v. Iranian Regime

Over the 43 years of its existence, the Iranian regime’s ineptitude has affected every Iranian. Failure to pay salaries has spawned protests by truckers, teachers, oil industry workers, and many other laborers. Students have held rallies to reject “Stone Age” restrictions at universities. Construction of hundreds of dams and water rerouting schemes have dried out many water sources, depriving Iranian farmers of a living and driving them to the streets in thirst and desperation.

Each flare up of popular unrest has been distinctly characterized by anti-regime sentiments. Chants of “Death to the dictator,” “Shame on Khamenei, let go of the country,” “Mullahs get lost,” and “Our enemy is here; they lie that it is America!” have routinely conveyed the people’s anger at the revolutionary government’s broken promises. And each prominent protest has been brutally crushed.

In 1988, the regime massacred more than 5,000 dissidents. In 1999, Iran’s version of “Tiananmen Square” ended with seven dead, 200 wounded, and 1,400 detained. 2009 brought the “Green Movement,” which resulted in more than 100 deaths. Then, in a span of a few days in November 2019, 1,500 Iranians were mowed down by the regime’s security forces. The victims included at least 17 teenagers and about 400 women.

Now, thousands of Iranians are back on the streets, risking their lives. But do protests really happen if no one hears about them?

Media Blackout of Iranian Protests

The Islamic Republic of Iran is perennially designated as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. Yet, deadly protests in Iran rarely get reported in the Western media.

You’ve probably heard of the Russian lawyer Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned and imprisoned by Putin, but have you heard of Nasrin Sotoudeh, an Iranian lawyer who was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes for defending women who object to the Islamic Republic’s compulsory hijab laws?

The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was front-page news for months. Not the kidnapping and murder of Iranian journalist Ruhollah Zam. Nor the torture and execution of wrestler Navid Afkari. Nor the arrest and death of environmentalist Kavous Seyed Emami.

A prominent Iranian blogger and Internet freedom activist Hossein Ronaghi became so fed up with this phenomenon he risked his freedom to condemn the Western media for “failing the Iranian people.” Ronaghi wrote: “In Iran, we protest as loudly as possible and post videos online, but the reality is not reflected in most Western media reports.”

Why are Oppressed Iranians Invisible in the West?

One explanation may be the Islamic Republic’s repressive environment for journalists. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls Iran one of the world’s ten worst countries for press freedom. It’s nearly impossible to report critically about the government of Iran from Iran. This is a double-edged sword that compromises the truth. It not only leads to more favorable coverage of the theocratic regime, but also more critical coverage of Western governments that respect press freedom.

Another possible reason is the Western media’s “JCPOA bias.” In the lead up to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (aka the Iran nuclear deal), many purportedly objective publications cheered the Obama Administration’s marquee foreign policy initiative. Then Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes even bragged about the media “echo chamber.” That Faustian bargain came at the expense of the “Green Movement,” which President Obama sacrificed at the altar of the Iran deal.

Today, history is repeating itself. As President Joe Biden is negotiating the latest version of the JCPOA, many in the media who supported the original deal want him to succeed, and are reluctant to draw attention to anything, like the protests, that may sabotage those efforts.

Hossein Ronaghi, the Iranian blogger, was arrested following the publication of his first article. After a stint in prison, he doubled down with a plea to the West: “This is our message from inside Iran: Don’t enrich our torturers, don’t capitulate to our captors. You would be sacrificing your own national security and selling out the Iranian people at the same time. And when the regime shuts down the internet during our protests and tries to murder us under the cover of darkness, don’t stay silent.”

Len Khodorkovsky is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Senior Advisor to the U.S. Representative for Iran.

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily the views of Iran International