Hezbollah, Hashd Al-Shaabi Forces Helping Iran Suppress Protests - Reports

Condemning the violence in a statement on Sunday, the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, the body that has organized numerous nationwide protest rallies and strikes in the past few years, described the minister as an “incompetent and good-for-nothing element.” 

"Unfortunately, in the last week, we witnessed the brutal attack of security forces and plainclothes on educational centers in various cities of the country, including schools in Kordestan province, Gohardasht and Mehrshahr near the capital Tehran, Orumiyeh (Urmia) and Ardabil in northwestern Iran and the northern city of Rasht,” the statement read. “Creating terror, the security forces arrested several students and transferred them to unknown places," it added. 

The latest case was the attack on a school in Ardabil, where school officials tried to force the students to sing the propaganda song “Hello Commander” in praise of Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei, but when some students refused, government agents showed up, beating and assaulting the girls. One student, identified as Asra Panahi, reportedly died of her injuries at the hospital while another one is in critical condition. 

On Saturday, hardliner news agencies published a video of an interview with Asra Panahi’s uncle in which he said she has died of a congenital heart condition.

Amid nationwide protests that have even mobilized Iranian high school students, the Islamic Republic authorities are removing photos of the Supreme Leader from classrooms in fear of students damaging the portraits.

Sources in Tehran told Iran International TV Sunday morning that four of the inmates had been seen in body covers after the incident. Hours later, Mizan, the official news agency of the Judiciary, said four prisoners died of “smoke inhalation” and four others were in critical condition. Mizan has said that the four who died were “serving time for theft”.

The names of the victims have not been disclosed.

Many inmates’ family members gathered in front of the prison Sunday morning to enquire about the safety of their loved ones. The prison houses many political prisoners and prisoners of conscience including some of those arrested in recent protests, as well as others serving time for financial and other crimes.

Rights activists are collecting information from families and compiling a list of all inmates and their health conditions. An informed source said some of the prisoners of the ward were beaten up and put in shackles outside the building during the fire.

Human rights advocate and lawyer Mostafa Nili, in a tweet Sunday said some of the inmates have been removed from Ward Eight, where both political and financial prisoners are held.

According to Nili and others, political prisoners in Ward Four were only affected by tear gas and none have been taken away.These sources have also said female inmates in the Women’s Ward were tear gassed when they went outside the building but are safe and have begun contacting their families.

Nili said he had no reliable information on the situation in Ward Seven, where scuffles between security forces and inmates and the fire occurred.

In an earlier tweet Nili said he went to the prison to enquire about the safety of his clients but there was no one was to respond. He later reported that he had talked to an assistant prosecutor who said everyone would be allowed to contact their families.

The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)-linked Fars news agency quoted an official Sunday as saying that some of the inmates had walked into a minefield on the hill in the northern side of the prison while fleeing and caused the explosions were heard by the locals. Another hardliner website with close ties to the IRGC, Mashregh News, claimed Sunday that seven inmates were killed at the minefield.

Speaking to Sharq newspaper Sunday morning, an informed source from Prisons Organization strongly refuted the claim. Fars also later quoted another ‘informed source” as saying that none of the inmates had entered the minefield.

Some of the prisoners have been allowed to call their families. In a phone call to his wife, filmmaker Jafar Panahi has said he and other inmates had gone out into the courtyard after the fire broke out but had to go back inside when security forces fired tear gas at them.

Authorities have made different and contradictory statements about the cause of the fire but claim that it was started by inmates after they had a scuffle among themselves in a clothing depo or in a sewing workshop. They also insist that that the incident was not related to ongoing protests or prisoners serving security-related time such as political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.

Radio Farda, the Persian Service of the US government’s Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL), published a video Sunday which appears to show a fire being lit in an area inside the prison. In the video several bright objects are seen rising from a distance and descending on the prison after which explosions are heard. An eyewitness told Radio Farda that there were five explosions in total.

During a press gaggle in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, Biden said, “The Iranian government is so oppressive, you can’t have anything but an enormous amount of respect for those people marching in the streets.”

He admitted that he was “surprised” by the way Iranians are protesting against the Islamic Republic, saying that “I was surprised by the courage of people and women taking the street — taking off their head scarf.”

He also pointed out that the Islamic Republic’s authorities are not good people, noting that it is “amazing” how Iranians have revolted against the government.

Also on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani censured Biden’s remarks, saying “He interfered for the umpteenth time in Iran's state matters by supporting the riots as he has done ever since the outbreak of recent developments in Iran.” 

Amid a nationwide uprising ignited by death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, at least four people died Saturday evening as a large fire spread in Tehran’s Evin Prison while gunshots and blasts were heard. 

The deaths of prisoners have added fuel to the fire of Iran protests which started 30 days ago. On Sunday, students at University of Tehran held another protest rally, chanting, "Tehran Turned into Prison, Evin Turned into Slaughterhouse."

"Another Cinema Rex Fire Happening. Enough Is Enough, People, Join Us," Tehran University students were heard chanting, referring to the deadly 1978 fire at Cinema Rex of Abadan in southern Iran which killed some 400 people and intensified the 1979 Revolution.

In a tweet on Sunday, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said, “The international community must call for a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to create a UN investigative and accountability mechanism on Iran government and religious authorities' far too many crimes against the Iranian people.”

She made the call in reaction to a large fire in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison Saturday evening as gunshots and blasts were heard, with hundreds of political prisoners among the inmates.

“This must be terrifying. Let's recall that the authorities have the legal obligation to respect and protect the lives and well-being of all the prisoners,” Callamard said. 

At least four people have been killed during the fire and shooting in Evin Prison Saturday night, sources told Iran International. Prisoners confirmed that they have seen the dead bodies of the four fellow inmates wrapped in body bags at the prison’s medical area.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran said that it received reports of a “gun battle” in Evin prison Saturday night that was continuing at 22:00 local time (14:30 Washington DC time and 19:30 London time).

The human rights monitoring group said that gunshots were first heard in Ward 7 of the prison, housing inmates convicted for financial crimes, and then the confrontation spread to other parts of the prison.

In an interview with the ultraconservative Hamshahri Online Karami also claimed that those taking part in the protests are not ordinary individuals. They were trained saboteurs, “expert in creating flash mobs using hit and run tactics, who were organized in groups of three or four and were armed with all sorts of weapons including grenades."

The IRGC general tried to portray the protesters as better armed than his special units, claiming that his forces just use “paintball shotguns”, while opponents display full metal jackets with war ammunition.

So far, security forces have killed more than 230 people, including around 30 children while around 20 security forces have died, mostly plainclothesmen who use clubs and shotguns to attack demonstrators.

He said as far as he was concerned the protests ended two weeks ago, adding that protesters lacked an ideology. He even claimed that some of them were paid to protest.

As he was making these claims, people were protesting in more than a dozen cities and a prison riot in Tehran Saturday evening rocked the capital.

As the world watches, Iranian protesters want freedoms like those enjoyed by citizens in most of the world and they seem to have reached the conclusion that their clerical regime has to go.

"Somebody is sitting in a studio abroad and tells the protesters to go ahead," the commander fantasized obviously with Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters in mind. He quoted one of the detainees as saying, "Somebody gave me an Apple Phone and told me to take part in the protest for one day."

Meanwhile, IRGC General Hassan Hassanzadeh, the commander of Mohammad Rassoulallah Corps, which is in charge of Tehran’s security told the official news agency IRNA that 850 Basij militia members were wounded and three others killed in clashes with the protesters in Greater Tehran area. Some 185 Basij members were wounded in action in just one night, he said.

Hassanzadeh added that the Basij has 380 well-equipped combat ready battalions in Greater Tehran, and claimed that IRGC's commanders have banned the use of military weapons by these units. The claim is contrary to tens of videos going viral on social media that show Basij, IRGC and police personnel shooting at peaceful demonstrators in Tehran and other cities.

Boasting about IRGC's power, he said: "When the enemies seized an Iranian oil tanker, we seized three of their oil tankers and forced them to release our ship." However, he did not say how this is related to recent protests, other than a veiled threat of force.

He said the IRGC's eavesdropping operations have revealed that the enemies wrongly believed that that the regime in Iran is shaky and that the IRGC was unable to control the protests.

Meanwhile, General Esmail Kowsari, an IRGC officer who is currently a member of the Iranian parliament, charged in an interview that "Protesters in Iran were paid by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabi, and that the United Kingdom, France and Germany also supported them."

He also opined that some of the protesters who play a leadership role should be harshly treated by security forces. He claimed that protesters should know that there are individuals in the regime who would be willing to listen to them if they respected the law.

On Thursday, six reformist parties wrote in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi that they have lawfully requested permission for legal demonstrations in Tehran several weeks ago, but the Interior Ministry has refused to allow them to voice their lawful protest.