Iran Executes Two Men Charged With Terror Attack On Shrine
Iran hanged two Afghan men in public on Saturday who were accused of playing a role in an attack on a shrine in October where 15 people died and 20 were wounded.
Iran hanged two Afghan men in public on Saturday who were accused of playing a role in an attack on a shrine in October where 15 people died and 20 were wounded.
Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeem Hashem Ghetali were hanged in a street near the Shahcheragh Shiite shrine and mausoleum in the southern city of Shiraz early in the morning. Iran's official news agency IRNA said they were hanged before dawn with “hundreds of the families of the martyrs” and other citizens of Shiraz witnessing the executions.
The attack on Shahcheragh shrine took place October 26 last year when anti-regime protests were raging on in Iran. This led to speculations and accusations that the attack was staged by the government to divert attention from the protests and also justify a crackdown.
However, in a strange twist, the Islamic State group took responsibility for the attack, which fit the government narrative of Iran being under attack by extremists.
The lone gunman, who entered the shrine with an assault rifle, was shot and wounded during the attack and the government said he died later in the hospital and identified him as a citizen of Tajikistan. The two men who were hanged July 8 were accused of playing a direct role in the "arming, procurement, logistics, and guidance of the main perpetrator" of the terrorist attack.
Iranian human rights groups have said that the trial of the two men was not held according to legal standards and their conviction and subsequent death penalties were illegal.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Norway-based Iran Human Rights, said Thursday that the two Afghan nationals were sentenced to death after “grossly unfair trials where no evidence was presented against them.”
Documents released by a hactivist group in early December showed that the Revolutionary Guard might have has foreknowledge of the attack and did nothing to stop it.
The documents, released by hacking group Black Reward, were several reports prepared by the IRGC’s media arm, Fars news agency, which were marked “top secret” and indicated that the author believed at least parts of Iran's several intelligence organizations had knowledge of an imminent terrorist attack but did not take any action to stop it.
Many Iranians immediately after the attack began accusing the regime of organizing the terror act as some kind of distraction from the boldest and most widespread protests in 43 years of clerical rule. Some even alleged that the government of complicity with ISIS in the attack to create its own narrative and martyrs to divert attention from fierce anti-regime protests.
CCTV footage shown on state TV showed the gunman entering the popular shrine despite the usual heavy security measures with a weapon and firing at worshippers as they tried to flee and hide in corridors.
The attacker, identified as Sobhan Komrooni with the nickname “Abu Aisha”, a citizen of Tajikistan, later died in a hospital from injuries sustained during the attack, according to the government.
Iran's intelligence ministry in a statement in November claimed that a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan who was the “main element of directing and coordinating the attack” had flown from Baku and entered Iran through Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport. According to the statement, he had then contacted the ISIS network of foreign nationals in Iran and organized the attack.
Some people at the time also noted a similarity with a 1994 terrorist attack on the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad which killed and injured dozens of people. Although a Sunni group had claimed responsibility, the government laid the blame on the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK). However, the former Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri claimed during his trial in 1999 that it was a false flag operation by the Iranian regime to discredit MEK.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abollahian made the claim in an interview with Chinese TV channel Phoenix following Thursday's UN Security council’s session to discuss Iran’s nuclear advancements and its arms supply to Russia as well as Tehran joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
“In the past several weeks, Iran has started talks with three countries of Germany, France and England,” he said, noting that “talks started in Norway and recently continued in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.”
Amir-Abollahian expressed hope that these talks are aimed at overcoming “misunderstandings,” paving the ground for the Islamic Republic and the E3 countries (France, UK and Germany) for “better interaction and cooperation.”
What the top Iranian diplomat described as “misunderstandings” are the implementation of the UN resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal. As part of the defunct agreement, UN sanctions imposed on the regime over its ballistic missile program are set expire in October, but the three European parties of the accord argue that Iran has violated the pact, therefore the sanctions should remain in place.
They base their argument on evidence that proves Iran is supplying weapons for the Russian invasion of Ukraine – on which Iran should have coordinated with the UN Security Council – and on IAEA reports that prove Iran is stockpiling highly-enriched uranium beyond the levels allowed in resolution 2231.
Amir-Abdollahian did not mention the drone supplies to Russia but Iran has maintained an ambivalent approach about its military dealings with Moscow. While it keeps repeating claims that Iran supports peace in Ukraine, it argues that the drones were sold to Russia before the invasion began, despite colossal amounts of evidence, including multiple Iranian Shahed drones shot down over Ukraine. In the latest development, satellite imagery indicates that the regime has also set up a drone manufacturing line in Tatarstan Republic to jointly produce the drones with Russia.
Western navies have also seized multiple shipments of Iranian arms in the Persian Gulf waters apparently destined for Houthis in Yemen, including in one instance missile and drone parts, in violation of existing UN sanctions.
At the same time, Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, said that during the Security Council’s session on Thursday, Iran and the Russian Federation claim there was no evidence linking the intercepted vessel and its cargo to Iran, and no clear indication that the seized components were of Iranian origin.
Amir-Abollahian's remarks also followed a phone call with the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell who warned the Iranian foreign minister against arms supplies to Russia. The European Union, multiple European countries and the United States have been warning Iran against supplying weapons to Russia since its Shahed Kamikaze drones were deployed by Moscow last year against civilian and military targets in Ukraine. So far, Russia has launched hundreds of these loitering munitions, mostly against infrastructure and centers of population.
Iran's FM also said in the interview that the Ebrahim Raisi administration is following two courses of action simultaneously to deal with the sanctions. “The first path is to try to neutralize the sanctions and the other path is to try to cancel the sanctions using the tools of diplomacy and negotiation. We move in both directions,” he said.
Threads, a microblogging platform provided by Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has attracted a significant number of Iranian users. Instagram, already a popular social media platform in Iran with over 24 million users according to state officials, may contribute a substantial user base to Threads. Moreover, many frustrated Twitter users, who have been displeased with recent ad-hoc changes on the platform, are also making the switch.
Twitter's implementation of new restrictions and changes, such as reducing the number of tweets users can read to 300 (although "verified" users paying a monthly fee have access to more), has drawn constant complaints from Iranian users. Although Twitter later increased the limit, the damage was already done, and many users began considering a move away from the platform.
Alternative options for Iranian users included Mastodon, which is less popular than Twitter, and Blue Sky, a platform in the beta stage that accepts new members by invitation only. Last week, many Iranians were searching for Blue Sky invite codes, although invitations are limited to one per current user every two weeks.
In 2020, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, estimated that there were approximately 49 million Iranian accounts on Telegram, 47 million on Instagram, and 2 million on Twitter. Since then, the number of Twitter users must have significantly increased, especially during the anti-government protests in 2022 and 2023, during which the platform became a vital resource for debates and information sharing.
By mid-day London Time on Thursday, more than 20 million users had joined Threads, including between one and two million from Iran, according to UK-based Media Metrics Limited, which also said accurate metrics is challenging, as most Iranians use virtual private networks (VPNs) to conceal their location from the watchful eyes of repressive security forces. VPNs make it appear as if these users are based in countries other than Iran, where social media is strictly banned by the government.
A Threads user named Rasul Asadzadeh expressed in his first post, "From Yahoo! Messenger to Threads. Social media has provided us with a platform to voice our grievances. Hey Freedom! Give us back the echo of our voice. Our hair is turning white."
Meanwhile, in Tehran, by mid-day (early morning in London), when the number of Threads members reached ten million, a user going by the pseudonym Hazer Javabi stated, "Believe me, seven million of them are from Iran."
Tehran has concerns about the organizing and mobilizing power of social media, particularly in light of the increased number and strength of opposition groups and citizens opposing the regime since the nationwide protests in 2022.
Until late June, Twitter served as the primary online venue for Iranian political activity, with virtually every political group and politically engaged individual, regardless of affiliation or agenda, active on the platform. However, as of Thursday morning, many had migrated to Threads, perhaps permanently. Others plan to maintain their Twitter accounts for a while before figuring out how to transition their followers to Threads.
Twitter had been grappling with growing concerns about the presence of trolls and bots, as political tweets often featured vulgar language and insults. A Threads user named Parham Ghobadi wrote on Thursday, "Apparently, bots and the cyber army have not arrived here yet. It's still a healthy environment."
Despite the overwhelming welcome Threads has received, users familiar with social media dynamics and cultural and political nuances in Iran predict that Blue Sky, once it surpasses the hurdles of its beta phase, will likely emerge as the biggest winner in the microblogging market. They attribute this to owner Jack Dorsey's marketing expertise, as the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter. Additionally, many Iranian users find Instagram's advertising annoying, making them hopeful that Threads' marketing strategy will differ from that of Instagram.