Time Magazine Names Iranian Women As Heroes of 2022
The Time magazine has crowned the women of Iran as heroes of the year in 2022 for their role as the pioneers of the uprising against the Islamic Republic.
The US magazine has describedIranian women as “educated, secular, liberal” who took to the streets after the death of the young Kurdish Mahsa Amini to say, “they have the freedom to say and wear anything.”
Former Time columnist Azadeh Moaveni in a tribute has written about women's roles in past protests in Iran that have built toward the current movement.
A number of photos of Iranian women have been mentioned for the tribute. A photo by a woman named Shima is captioned as "I am proud of myself and my country’s women who stand up for their rights in a braver manner than any man in the world.”
Moaveni says “when a generation’s aspirations for freedom appear tantalizingly within reach, the more humiliating the remaining restrictions seem, and the less daunting the final stretch of resistance feels.”
“At this writing, an estimated 400 Iranian protesters have been killed by security forces… Despite measures to block the internet, reports continue to surface of deaths and abuse in custody. After nearly three months, protests on college campuses are not letting up,” read’s the tribute.
Moaveni also adds what’s happening in Iran may look familiar, but it’s different because, today, the aspirations of all swirled into the chants of “women, life, freedom,” a feminist revolt carrying a whole society’s varied grievances.
State Department spokesman Ned Price Tuesday expressed US support for Iranians “exercising…universal rights” but said 'regime change' is for Iranians to decide.
Both at the UN Human Rights Council November 24, and in an interview this week with Iran International, United Nations special rapporteur Javaid Rehman had said he sought prosecutions over human rights violations in Iran under principles of universal jurisdiction either in national courts or outside Iran in international courts.
Asked by Iran International reporter Samira Gharaei Tuesday, Price explained steps the US would take over human rights in Iran. Washington, he said, would move a resolution December 14 to expel Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women and would continue “imposing costs on those responsible for the brutal crackdown… through multiple rounds of sanctions.” Price linked this to the UN investigation, which showed the “world is watching.”
Price also warned Iran over issuing death sentences for protesters. “Unfortunately, this is just really the latest tactic that we’ve seen from the Iranian regime…[against] individuals who are exercising their universal rights. These sentences, we know, are meant to intimidate people, to suppress dissent. They are – they simply underscore Iran’s leadership’s fears of its own people and the fact that Iran’s government fears the truth,” stated Price.
Asked if the United States would support a demand by protesters for “regime change” Price replied, “We support the ability of the Iranian people to exercise their rights, to demand what it is that they seek. These are questions that are up to the Iranian people.”
Asked about returning Iran’s nuclear program to the restrictions of the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Price repeated that “talks are not on the agenda right now” as the US “focused on…ways to support the protestors across Iran.”
Diplomacy, arming ‘partners’
Nonetheless, diplomacy was the best way to ensure “Iran will be permanently and verifiably barred once again from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Price said. This had been the case, he noted, before the administration of President Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew the US from the JCPOA and imposed draconian sanctions against Iran, prompting Tehran by 2019 to begin exceeding the JCPOA nuclear limits.
Price said that Tehran would gain no leverage in talks by further expanding the nuclear program or by not satisfying the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “safeguards investigation,” a reference to the agency’s probe into uranium traces found at ‘non-nuclear’ sites.
Such actions would, the spokesman said, lead rather to “additional costs” on Iran. Price noted that the US had “worked very closely with partners in the region, partners beyond, regarding the challenge that’s presented by Iran’s nuclear program.”
Speaking to Iran International correspondent Arash Aalaei, US Republican Party Senator Josh Hawley, a close ally of Trump, said the Biden administration had made a mistake by negotiating with Iran and treating it as “a legitimate state.” Hawley called for “arming…partners and allies in the region…” This, he said, would “send the message of support to Iranian protesters and the folks who’re trying to stand up for some sense of liberty there.”
The Trump administration agreed over $400 billion in arms sales over ten years to Saudi Arabia, which is expected this week to sign weapons deals worth $30 billion with a Chinese delegation led by President Xi Jinping. Riyadh has already deployed Chinese ballistic missiles.
Reports from Iran say two teenage girls who were arrested in the cities of Hamadan and Shiraz amid the ongoing protests face uncertainty in Iran’s prison system.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) announced Tuesday that Farnoush Esmi, an 18-year-old blogger from Hamadan in Iran’s west, was transferred to Evin prison in Tehran two weeks after her arrest, but there is no further news.
Reports on social media indicate the family of this teenager had refused to publish the news of her arrest during the last two weeks under security pressures.
Parya Faramarzi, a 16-year-old teenager from Pasargad in southern Fars province is also in Adelabad prison in Shiraz two months after arrest October 11 during a raid by security agents on her home. Reports say she has been taken to hospital twice during this period. Activists on twitter say she has suffered “eye stroke” twice due to interrogations.
Since the beginning of the protests after Mahsa Amini's death in the custody of ‘hijab police’, many protesting students and teenagers have been apprehended and interrogated. Some were found dead after security forces arrested them in the streets, or shot during demonstrations.
Female prisoners are reportedly threatened with rape in Iran prisons. Detainee have told activists that some protest prisoners are kept with criminals, and they have been sexually abused by them.
Over 18,000 people have been arrested during the recent protests. However, the Iranian regime denies providing any official information about the number of detainees.
Sister of Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei has condemned the “authoritarian rule” of her brother saying she hopes to see the overthrow of tyranny in Iran soon.
In an open letter published in Farsi and English on her son’s twitter account, Badri Khamenei said the regime of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, and Ali Khamenei his successor has brought nothing but “suffering and oppression” to Iranians.
She went on to say that the people of Iran deserve freedom and prosperity, and their uprising is legitimate.
“My brother does not listen to people’s voice and wrongly considers the voice of his mercenaries... He rightly deserves the disrespectful and impudent words he uses to describe the oppressed,” she added.
“As my human duty, many times I brought the voice of the people to the ears of my brother Ali Khamenei…But after I saw that he did not listen…I cut off my relationship with him,” Khamenei’s only sister told the public.
She further sympathized with the people, saying “I oppose my brother’s actions and I express my sympathy with all mothers mourning the crimes of the regime, from the time of Khomeini to the current era of the despotic caliphate of Ali Khamenei.”
She also called on the IRGC and Khamenei’s “mercenaries” to lay down their weapons as soon as possible and join the people before it is too late.
Badri Khamenei’s husband was a fierce critic of the regime, and her daughter was recently arrested for voicing her own criticism.
The United States has warned Iran against issuing death sentences for antigovernment protesters saying that the Iranian regime should know the world is watching.
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefingon Tuesday that the “draconian” sentences are meant to scare people and dissent.
“Unfortunately, this is just really the latest tactic that we’ve seen from the Iranian regime…[against] individuals who are exercising their universal rights. These sentences, we know, are meant to intimidate people, to suppress dissent. They are – they simply underscore Iran’s leadership’s fears of its own people and the fact that Iran’s government fears the truth,” stated Price.
Iran's Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei said Monday the death sentences for several protesters have been confirmed and will be executed soon.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Price talked about Iran’s removal as a member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women saying that Washington is committed to removing Iran from the commission.
“It’s the proper thing to do. It shows that we stand with women in Iran and around the world, including from a variety of civil society groups that have led this push…because of Tehran’s very egregious actions against Iran’s women and girls,” he underlined.
The resolution will be taken up on December 14th, added Price, reiterating that the US will continue to work with its allies and partners to generate support with members of the UN Economic and Social Council for the proposed action.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian claimed Tuesday the protests in his country have ended and whoever would like can travel to Iran to see it in person.
Amir Abdollahian made the comments in a joint press conference with his Bosnian counterpart Tuesday saying part of the demands in Iran are peaceful demands of the people but “I invite you to come to Iran and see it yourself.”
His comments come as the country is in shutdown mode for the second day with business owners on strike in support of the protest movement that wants to oust the clerical regime.
He further went on to allege that “in the past eight weeks, Iran witnessed a wave of foreign interventions, riots and terror acts designed against the people of Iran.”
Government officials in the core of the regime and military commanders in Iran keep blaming foreign countries and their alleged agents for instigating unrest in Iran.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian FM said “the police did not shoot at anyone, and no one was killed by the police and security forces, but 67 policemen were killed by US-made weapons.”
Amir-Abdollahian’s comments are in contradiction with the country’s Security Council that announced Saturday over two hundred people were killed during nationwide “riots”.
Based on the latest report by the Oslo-based Human Rights Organization at least 448 people including 60 children and 29 women have been killed by security forces in the ongoing nationwide protests.
