Protests Force Iran's Khamenei To Suggest Moderation Over Hijab

Jebelli’s two brothers left Iran in 2020 after their nephew was killed in IRGC's downing of a Ukrainian airliner that year, but according to one of them Peyman "stepped on his blood".

In 2021, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, appointed Jebelli as the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) which is infamous for propaganda and airing forced confessions of protesters.

Peyman Jebelli’s nephew, Mohammad Amin Jebelli, a 29-year-old medical student was on the Ukrainian airliner that was shot down by the IRGC on January 8, 2020.

“The death of Mohammad did not shake the loyalty of Peyman, or most of the Jebelli family. But it was the final straw for Peyman’s younger brother, Meisam Jebelli,” wrote the Time.

In late 2020, 43-year-old Meisam defected, along with another Jebelli brother.

“Both men could have had powerful positions in Iran, thanks to their older brother’s immense influence. Now both are asylum-seekers struggling to make a living abroad, yet proud of their decision,” added the Time.

"The final [straw] was after my nephew’s killing by IRGC... It was hard to fathom how after such a severe tragedy, both of my brothers, the chief of IRIB as well as Amin’s own father would still defend the government. I saw Peyman lie to my face, to the whole country," Meysam told the Time magazine.

Elias Hazrati, who is also the proprietor of the newspaper explained that restrictions imposed by the government have made it impossible for the editors to do their job according to the daily's editorial standards.

Hazrati said in the editorial that readers had complained why the paper did not carry a report on the anniversary of the Ukrainian plane, shot down by the Revolutionary Guard on January 8, 2020, as it took off from Tehran.

He stated that "in fact, Etemad's editors had prepared several reports on the topic with added value by its analysts. But Etemad's editorial standards were not compatible with the closed circle some policymakers and state institutions have drawn around the media to restrict their activities."

"When we found out how limited the scope of our articles should be, we decided not to publish the story at all," wrote Hazrati. However, his statement revealed that at least sensitive articles are read and censored by individuals other than the daily's editors before publication. He also spoke about directives that were issued by "some institutions" to censor the media.

The statement by Hazrati, which came in an editorial entitled "A transparent report to our readers" in the January 9 issue of Etemad, was made a week after security forces stormed the home of the daily's political editor Medi Beik's and arrested him after confiscating his cell phone, computer and other equipment.

When Beik's wife broke the news about his arrest, his colleagues in the newspaper expressed support for him in social media comments. On January 7 several columnists as well as Hazrati himself expressed support for Beik on the frontpage of the newspaper, pointing out that he should not be jailed for doing his job.

Beik became very well-known for publishing a series of reports about young protesters in prison. In one particular case, Amir Hossein Rahimi, a 15 year-old jailed protesters with shotgun pellets in his head and neck whose mother did not have the bail money to secure his release, was finally freed thanks to an article in Etemad about the case. The shotgun pellets were subsequently taken out in a Tehran hospital.

Hazrati’s reference to "institutions" refers to the IRGC and the intelligence ministry in the Iranian political jargon. Although IRGC's aerospace commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh has admitted that it was an IRGC battery that fired two missiles on the Ukrainian aircraft, still, discussing the matter is some sort of taboo for the press. Even the Iranian Judiciary has not been able to convince the families of the victims why due judicial process has not been observed to determine the main culprits.

Hazrati said: "We trust that our policy is quite clear. We believe that well-documented reports by Etemad and other media outlets can pave the way for the people's trust in the government." He pointed out that the arguments about the downing of the aircraft and secrecy around the case has eroded this trust. However, he noted that perhaps the authorities do not want any coverage of the matter while a court is investigating the case.

"But we believe that free media are part of responsible governance. Democratic countries welcome transparent news dissemination. And experts and the family members of the victims have a right to speak about the case outside the court," he said.

The story has been controversial from the start as Iranian officials denied any attack on the aircraft for three days before admitting that it was hit by two missiles. Still, no one wants to accept any responsibility.

Faezeh Hashemi’s lawyer, Neda Shams, wrote on Twitter Tuesday that her client was sentenced to five years in prison at the preliminary stage.

She also noted that she cannot comment on the verdict as it is not final yet and her client is still in prison with other charges against her.

According to ISNA, Faezeh Hashemi was indicted on July 3 for “propaganda against the establishment” and “insulting the sanctities”.

Hashemi was arrested in September, days after popular protests broke out in Iran.

Speaking on the social audio app Clubhouse, the political activist had said that removing the IRGC from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) is not in Iran's interest.

Negotiations to restore Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal encountered complications as Tehran demanded the IRGC be removed from the terrorist list.

Footage of Hashemi Rafsanjani also surfaced in media, talking about Prophet Muhammad and how he used his wife’s money to advertise Islam.

Hashemi is known for her critical remarks about the Islamic Republic, its leaders, and policies. Her father, who for decades was the second most powerful man in the Islamic Republic, and helped bring Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to power in 1989, allowed the IRGC to become an economic player in the country.

Khamenei, who is facing the most serious challenge to his rule since 1989 when he became Supreme Leader, claimed that protesters are not angry about government inefficiency, managerial and economic weaknesses, but on the contrary the antigovernment movement is meant to weaken a strong Islamic Republic.

Popular protests broke out in mid-September when a 22-year-old woman was fatally wounded after being arrested by Iran’s notorious ‘hijab police’. After years of economic decline, increasing poverty and government interference in the private lives of citizens, the incident triggered pent-up frustrations that blew up in street demonstrations.

But unlike previous rounds of unrest, the government was not able to crush the protests in a matter of days and the demonstrators were not asking for reforms but demanding a regime change. Nevertheless, security forces killed more than 500 civilians and arrested close to 20,000 people by the end of December. The government has also hanged four protesters after sham trials, triggering Western condemnations, and isolating the clerical regime.

“In the recent riots, the hand of foreigners was visible, although some have denied it. As soon as we say foreign enemy, some deny it,” Khamenei said, referring to domestic pundits and politicians that say the protesters have genuine grievances.

‘Foreign enemy’ is a favorite term for the 83-year-old authoritarian ruler, who is a staunch opponent of the West and believes he is the leader of the Muslim world, although as a Shiite cleric he cannot be accepted by most Muslims, who are Sunnis.

‘The enemy’, usually refers to the United States, Israel, Western Europe and even some Arab countries – in short, whoever disagrees with Khamenei’s quest to dominate the region, eradicate all manifestations of Western presence, and destroy Israel.

Khamenei attributes almost all political and economic failures and shortcomings to conspiracies by ‘the enemy’, and the ongoing protests are no exception.

He began blaming foreigners as early as September and his loyalists and media controlled by hardliners immediately tuned their propaganda to his message.

“Actions by America, by Europeans…each somehow intervened in this issue [protests] in an obvious manner, not hidden from view,” Khamenei said.

The United States and Europe only gradually increased their criticism of Tehran as the story of Mahsa Amini, the woman killed by the ‘hijab police’ spread around the world and garnered sympathy, the West began to react. Reports of teenage protesters being killed by trigger-happy regime forces in the early weeks of the protests brought on more and more Western criticism.

Khamenei went on to blame international, Arab and Hebrew media for propaganda in favor of the protests. Here is where, he claimed that the protests were meant to weaken the Islamic Republic and had nothing to do with its shortcomings. It was “the strengths” they wanted to destroy, he claimed.

Khamenei’s Islamic Republic has survived with oil export income for more than three decades and US sanctions imposed on its crude exports since 2018 have further weakened a shaky economy. Millions of middle-class citizens have become poor as inflation has reached nearly 50 percent and the national currency has lost its value more than tenfold in five years.

Khamenei has refused to resolve his differences with the West over Iran’s nuclear program seen as a threat by many countries. But parts of his speech Monday revealed what could be interpreted as anxiety over the political and economic deadlock his regime faces.

“Big works should be accomplished. Transformational work must get done. I believe it can be done. We have pious, hardworking officials,” Khamenei said and reminisced about the 1979 revolution that toppled the monarchy.

The problem is that millions of people now reject that revolution and aspire to establishing a secular and democratic country.

Hardliner member of parliament Jalal Rashidi Kouchi said Saturday that banning the exit of senior officials, which is on the agenda of this parliament, is meant for the "protection of the assets and documents of the people and the country."

The plan is titled "Prohibition of the Islamic Republic of Iran's administrators from leaving the country after completing their duties" and will be discussed at the parliament next week, IRGC affiliated Tasnim news agency said. 

It is not clear if the timing of this proposal is related to nationwide antigovernment protests and the resulting political instability.

Referring to Iranian fugitive banker Mahmoud Reza Khavari, who was involved in an embezzlement scandal and fled the country to Canada, Rashidi Kouchi said such a plan would guarantee that officials cannot leave Iran with the money they obtained from embezzlement and bribery. 

Khavari was the chairman of Bank Melli Iran until September 2011 and chairman of Bank Sepah’s board of directors from December 2003 until March 2005. He was involved in a big embezzlement case worth approximately $950 million. Khavari, who became a Canadian citizen in 2005, is a fugitive wanted by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic. 

A certain time frame has been proposed for the plan. Officials would not be able to leave Iran in their last year of their service at a certain post and three years following the end of their job. Officials at a certain senior level must also register their properties in an existing system with the Judiciary and must refrain from any sale or transfer of properties during the four-year timespan. 

It is still not clear to what levels of seniority the law would apply, but most mid-to-high-level officials often have properties registered to family and friends.

Kouchi also said that according to the plan, the departure of former officials will be subject to the permission of regulatory and security entities, such as the judiciary, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC and the intelligence division of the police. He added that the priority of implementing this plan is for officials who hold dual citizenships or have close relatives abroad. 

The move to adopt such measures can be seen as a sign that some Islamic Republic officials may be trying to relocate from Iran with their families and seek residence in other countries, while the regime wants to erect barriers. The pace of emigration by Iranians, officials and ordinary people alike, has accelerated since the current wave of protests. Many Iranians inside the country and abroad believe that the days of the clerical regime are numbered as the global community and international bodies have also started expressing support for the uprising and a serious financial-economic crisis is threatening stability. 

Official reports this week indicated that at least $10 billion capital has left the country in the past 9 months.

Late in October, unconfirmed reports suggested that Iranian officials were sending their family members and assets abroad amid antigovernment protests that show no sign of abating. According to a report on the website of UK’s Daily Express, top officials of the Islamic Republic are reportedly attempting to secure British passports for their families. Citing an unnamed Iranian source, the report also claimed that officials have been chartering up to "five flights a day" for their families, adding that some sections of “Tehran’s main airport” have been taken over as a fast-track area for their own family and friends to escape the country.