Deaths From Bootleg Alcohol Consumption In Iran Reaches 12

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On March 3, 2023, Ray English, the former Director of Libraries at Oberlin College, responded to our co-authored op-ed published on February 24, 2023 in which English disagrees with our claim that Oberlin College Professor of Religion Mohammad Jaffar Mahallati played a role in covering up the mass execution of political prisoners in his country (the 1988 “prison massacres”) during his tenure as Iran’s UN Ambassador (1988-89). Rehearsing Oberlin’s official response (published on the college website on October 28, 2021), English argues that the allegations against Mahallati are unsupported by evidence. Mahallati’s defenders rest their case on the top-secret nature of the massacres, which allegedly made it impossible for him to have “real time knowledge” of the events.

We do not doubt that Mahallati’s geographical distance from Iran made it difficult for him to know all the details. However, the international press and Amnesty International began reporting about the massacres already in summer 1988. We know that Mahallati officially claimed that these reports were exaggerated or false. We also know that Mahallati went to Iran in late August 1988 where he met with Hashemi Rafsanjani (the second most important political leader after Ayatollah Khomeini).

Mahallati also misled his UN colleagues by claiming that the massacre’s victims were battlefield casualties. The truth is that most of them had been in prison for years prior to their execution. Finally, Mahallati argued that reputable sources with a long history of professional journalism and human rights investigations (The Financial Times, The New York Times, and The Guardian, and Amnesty International) were misled by left-wing guerrilla fighters based in Iraq who were peddling false information.

Ray English highlights Mahallati’s role as a peace broker in the Iran-Iraq war. He argues that Mahallati’s humanitarian impulses are evident from his effort to set up a UN human rights delegation to investigate claims about possible human rights violations. English also tells us that Mahallati was briefly detained after his official term expired because he fell in disfavor with regime hardliners.

A more careful look at the evidence calls into question these claims. In 2018, Mahallati wrote a letter to the President of the Majlis (Iran’s parliament) in which he denied that he had been detained. Instead, he claimed that these rumors were spread by regime hardliners who branded him as an American spy. Mahallati’s proposal to create a UN delegation to investigate the prison massacres was not necessarily borne of humanitarian impulses either. Rather, it was based on a quid pro quo, whereby Iran’s government would agree to the committee if the UN dropped a censure motion against the country for human rights violations.

According to a New York Times article from 26 November 1988, Mohammed Jafar Mahallati told the General Assembly's Third Committee that “Iran would admit a United Nations human rights investigator and cooperate if the resolution is watered down” and that “the committee has to choose between a confrontation or a cooperative approach.” Thirty-seven UN records and international media reports show that Mahallati conditioned visits to Iran by the UN Special Representative on the removal of critical references to the mass executions from the December 1988 resolution of the General Assembly.

When the UN proceeded to censure Iran for human rights violations anyway, Mahallati rescinded his offer. It was only in 1990, a whole year after Mahallati left his post, that Iran finally allowed UN officials to conduct the investigation. However, the three visits UN officials paid to Iran between 1990 and 1992 were highly staged occasions, as often happens in authoritarian regimes.

As internationally renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson noted, Iran denied the UN delegation independent access to prisons, prisoners, and potential witnesses. We also know that Mahallati used diplomatic immunity to defend himself against any allegations of wrongdoing, as he did when he attacked minority Baha’i communities or supported the fatwa against Nobel Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie.

Iran’s leaders have deliberately obfuscated the country’s abysmal human rights record for decades now. In this case, the goal is to demonize the 1988 prison massacre victims as violent left-wing terrorists aligned with Israel and American imperialism. Just how plausible is a conspiracy theory in which Islamic Marxist revolutionaries serve as stooges of Zionism and American power? Oberlin College’s administration should not play the role of a fellow traveler for a dictatorship that systematically violates human rights, not the least of Iran’s women who have stood up against dictatorship so bravely in recent months. Nor should it obfuscate, rather than honestly investigate, the role of a professor in covering up the crimes of Iran’s authoritarian and misogynist regime.

(Note: Dr Frieda Fuchs was mistakenly introduced as "Assistant Professor at Oberlin College" when this article was published. Consequently correction was made.)

Opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views of Iran International

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk told the state TASS agency that talks between the Eurasian Economic Union - which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia - and Iran are in their final stages.

"We are moving forward," Overchuk said. "We very much hope that such an agreement can be signed by the end of the year."

Both the region and Iran have taken on additional significance for the Kremlin after Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion in Ukraine limited Russia's foreign trade routes and forced it to look for markets outside Europe.

However, despite tighter ties between Moscow and Tehran since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and began big purchases of Iranian-made drones to attack the country, trade between the two markets have grown only moderately.

Russian-Iranian commodity turnover rose 20% in 2022, according to government data, but the monetary value of bilateral annual trade was less than $5 billion, negligible by international standards.

The regional agreement with Iran would replace and expand an interim pact that already provides a reduction in customs duties on hundreds of categories of goods.

In November 2022, Russia started swapping oil products with Iran and in March, Tehran said it counts on "huge volumes" of both oil and gas swaps with Moscow.

Overchuk also told TASS, without providing much detail, that negotiations among the Eurasian Economic Union countries on creating a common gas market continue.

Reporting by Reuters

Support for defiance of stricter hijab by students who staged a sit-in against wearing a hood-like head covering Wednesday and condemnation of violence against them is growing.

Students in several other universities across the country and various social and political groups have expressed solidarity with the students at University of Art in Tehran.

A statement released by a group of Tehran University students Saturday told the authorities that "the policy of maximum repression” they have adopted in universities will ultimately fail “like other forms of repression” used against Iranian people.

Protesting students at the University of Art and their supporters released a short statement Sunday, which addressing the authorities, said students had “nothing to tell them except one word: NO!” and insisted that they would continue “to fight for freedom”.

Male and female plainclothes agents abducted at least ten students from the campus on Saturday and took them to an unknown location without any interference from police special forces who were present around the university. Student sources said all but two of the detained students were freed Sunday.

Students had been protesting new rules that require women to wear a pullover headscarf with stitched front (called Maghna’e in Iran) which is like a nun’s coif, completely covering the head and the neck. Failing to comply, the university has said, would result in suspension.

According to the popular Telegram channel of the National Student Unions Council, at about 2:30 am Thursday, Hamzeh Borzouei attacked a group of about fifty students who had begun a sit-in protest.

Iranian Writers’ Association in a statement published Friday supported the students’ action and said authorities and those who carry out their orders of repression will be responsible for any harm to the students.

In recent months, security and intelligence organs have increased pressure on students for hijab, presumably to stop the growth of the anti-compulsory hijab movement in universities across the country and suspended dozens of students.

In June Sepideh Rashno, a 29-year-old anti-compulsory hijab activist, said in an Instagram post that Al-Zahra University of Tehran had suspended her for two semesters. Rashno was tortured in detention into making a televised “confession” and condemning other activists as well as expressing regret for her confrontation with a hijab enforcer on a city bus in July last year and posting a video of the incident on social media.

Authorities have also been trying to isolate artists who supported the Woman, Life, Freedom movement or defied hijab rules.

Entekhab news website Saturday published the image of a letter from an official regulating the film industry, Habib Ilbeigi, to the chairman of film producers’ union in which filmmakers are ordered not to employ actors and others who have defied the hijab “or personally face the consequences” including refusal of a screening permit.

Police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, said earlier this week that the government of President Ebrahim Raisi has approved extra funds to install more hijab surveillance cameras and that four special task groups have been launched to continue the war against hijab rebellion including one that will monitor social media platforms to identify those who publish photos of themselves without hijab.

Anti-hijab and anti-regime protests erupted in Iran in September 2022 after Mahsa Amini, a young woman was arrested in the street by the notorious ‘morality police’ and received fatal head injuries during here detention and later died in hospital.

Confidential letters published by the group Uprising till Overthrow revealed that the regime officials are aware their support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine may lead to criminal cases against Tehran for its involvement in the war. 

Referring to the annulment of at least five agreements between Iran and Ukraine over the issue, the documents pointed out that Kiev has also sanctioned a large number of Iranian officials and also rejected calls for negotiations by the Islamic Republic. 

The point that comes across in the hacked letters by General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the foreign ministry sent to the president’s office is that they know very little about the military cooperation with Moscow, suggesting that it is handled by the Revolutionary Guards, most probably with the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

Rolling with the punches, the organizations offered a number of suggestions to compensate for the “loss of dignity” by making demands from the Russian government.

In the documents, the General Staff asked the government not to deny Iran’s involvement in the war and its supply of drones to Moscow because the European and other Western countries are evidently sure about the military support. 

Among the ways to dampen the effects of Iran’s support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine is holding talks with Kyiv officials to keep the channel of interaction open between the two countries. 

The correspondence with the president’s office shows the regime’s concerns over the Ukrainian government downgrading relations with the Islamic Republic, calling for planning for such a scenario through preparing the regime’s embassy in Moldova to handle consular matters.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the diplomatic missions of the regime in European countries should become more active so that they can be aware of the possible plans of European countries for any possible legal action against Iran, implying that they are aware that regime officials can be prosecuted for their involvement in the war. 

Noting that 37 countries have filed lawsuits against Russia at the International Criminal Court, the ministry said that such a lawsuit can also be filed against the Islamic Republic. 

The hacktivist group ‘Uprising till Overthrow -- affiliated with the Albania-based opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) group -- produced documents in May showing that it breached 120 servers of the presidential office, getting access to internal communications, meetings minutes, President Ebrahim Raisi’s online conference platforms and about 1,300 computers inside the offices. The MEK-affiliated group has been releasing the documents on its social media accounts. 

Iran has repeatedly denied sending armed drones to Russia after Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022, claiming that any shipments occurred before the war.

However, Russia has used hundreds of Iranian-made drones to attack Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian targets, with Kyiv reporting more supplies in December as Moscow’s stocks were used up.

Western powers have strongly objected to Iran's decision to arm Russia with Kamikaze drones, and possibly other weapons and ammunition.

Ahmad Alirezabeigi told Rouydad24 news website in Tehran that his access to his microphone at the parliament (Majles) was cut off even before the legislature’s supervisory board attended to his case. He added: "The Speaker of the parliament read out the verdict against me before it was issued by the board!"

On Sunday some unconfirmed reports emerged that the ban has been lifted, but he has still not been observed speaking in the parliament.

Iranian authorities have confirmed that some 300 SUVs were given to the Majles at a highly discounted price ahead of a proposed impeachment of the minister of industry in 2022, but Alirezabeigi says still 153 are unaccounted for and no one knows who took delivery of those vehicles. 

Alirezabeigi further added that barring lawmakers from addressing the parliament is not part of the Majles Supervisory Board's authority, and Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has imposed the ban arbitrarily. He said lawmakers are entitled to challenge any verdict by the board, but he cannot do anything at the time being as the verdict has not been officially announced. 

The lawmaker says he was also called to a court of justice in May to respond to questions, but he was told that there are no charges against him as no one has filed a complaint about the matter. 

"I found out later that the minister in question has sent a letter about the issue to the Iranian judiciary, but he had not even named me in that letter," Alirezabeigi said, adding that "by barring me from speaking at the Majles, the authorities have deprived the people in my constituency of their voice being heard." 

Meanwhile, an outspoken former lawmaker, Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi has likened the lawmaker's punishment to the shelling of the parliament by anti-constitutionalists at the beginning of the 20th century. Imanabadi further charged: "The Majles is no longer the House of the People. It is a place where the presidium dictates whatever it deems right."

He explained that giving the SUVs to lawmakers at a discounted price is a concession they should have not accepted. He said although they have paid for the cars, but they ignore the fact that the vehicles are worth much more in the market and not everyone can get those cars at the price they think they have purchased it. "Would they sell the cars to you at such a discounted price if you were not members of parliament? Certainly no!"

He emphasized that the parliament should have not been allowed to bar a representative of the people from speaking. The Majles has pretty much cut off the voice of all those who had voted for this representative. 

Imanabadi said the presidium of the Majles should have taken action about the bribery instead of barring the lawmaker from speaking about corruption. Citind parliament’s by-laws he said, “You cannot bar a lawmaker from speaking even if what he says is tantamount to libel.” Instead, anyone who believes has been offended will be given time to defend or explain. 

Imanabadi said: "It is surprising that the other lawmakers are silent about this matter. This could have happened to any one of them." He added that according to a former speaker of the Majles, Mehdi Karroubi, cutting off a lawmaker's microphone “is a sign of despotism." 

Imanabadi further suggested that Alirezabeigi should resign in protest.