Iran's Sunni Leader Raises Concern Over Prisoners Deaths

"We are a great nation; we will reclaim Iran", he said, as he called on the nation to rise up. In a video message, Pahlavi emphasized the necessity for millions of Iranians to take to the streets with the aim of "toppling the oppressive regime of Iran" as the key to achieving "the freedom and prosperity of the beloved country, Iran."

Pahlavi, who continues to be one of the most popular figures among Iranians to take over from the regime, called on the country's diverse population to join the uprising, including "laborers deprived of their wages for months, employees and retirees struggling with insufficient income, students and university professors facing expulsion and imprisonment, military personnel subjected to harassment by corrupt leaders, and police officers whose uniforms have been transformed into tools of suppression by the Islamic Republic".

Highlighting the ongoing plight of Iranians under the regime, he drew attention to the many areas of social, economic and political struggle, including censorship and religious oppression.

Last year's brutal crackdown by the regime during the protests following Amini's death, resulted in the deaths of over 500 civilians, with thousands more sustaining injuries and tens of thousands imprisoned. Pahlavi issued a warning to the Islamic Republic leaders, placing the responsibility fo any violence against the Iranian people squarely on their shoulders.

In a show of unity, the parties emphasized that the people's movement for freedom in Iran has taken "irreversible and unstoppable steps" over the past year.

Expressing their solidarity with civil society activists and independent organizations, the parties have declared September 16th as the Day of General Strike throughout Kordestan. However, Iranians criticized the statement for announcing a strike on a national holiday, when businesses will be closed, and for not calling for protest rallies as many other activist groups have.

One of the actions planned for the day is a gathering at the gravesite of Mahsa and all the martyrs of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in various cities and villages across Kordestan.

The authors of the statement have called upon women, youth, workers, teachers, retirees, environmental activists, and other segments of the population across Iran to actively participate in the general strike as a show of solidarity against the regime's brutality and oppression.

Prior to this, 27 institutions and groups had already issued similar calls for a global gathering on the same day, in honor of Kurdish-Iranian Amini, who was arrested for the inappropriate wearing of her hijab before dying in morality police custody from what evidence suggests were massive blows to the head. 

In their comprehensive report sourced from the most recent evidence, Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) and the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) unveiled fresh insights into a series of harrowing events that unfolded during the crackdown on protests last fall and winter in the city of Javanroud (Javanrud) in western Kermanshah province. 

The 100-page report, titled “Massacre in Javanrud,” is the result of an exhaustive examination of hundreds of photographs and videos, as well as interviews conducted with 38 eyewitnesses, victims' families, and individuals who were detained or injured from early October until the end of December 2022. The findings revealed disturbing accounts of tortures, severe beatings, mass detentions, and threats of sexual harassment against numerous protesters, including minors.  

For several weeks after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September, Iran's Kurdish-majority cities were also at the forefront of the protests that started with Amini’s hometown Saqqez. People in most Kurdish-populated areas in Kordestan, West Azarbaijan and Kermanshah provinces relentlessly protested and defied government forces. 

The regime deployed military forces to these areas to quash the uprising, practically putting a military siege on several cities such as Javanrud. During last year’s protests, which lasted for months, over 500 people were killed by regime security forces and over 22,000 people were arrested. 

According to the report, security forces intentionally shot peaceful protesters in the Kurdish city of Javanrud with military-grade weapons, killing eight unarmed civilians, including one child, and injuring at least 80 protesters. 

The wounded were beaten by security forces and prevented from receiving medical care without risking arrest. About 90 people, including 26 minors, were apprehended, and detained arbitrarily. A significant number of them endured physical abuse and torture during their time in custody. Furthermore, the families of those who were injured, killed, detained, or mistreated found themselves under state pressure to maintain silence. 

Calling them “crimes against humanity,” the human rights groups said the heinous acts perpetrated by the agents of the regime were committed with the full knowledge and direction of state authorities, and included “deliberate and systematic killing, maiming, and abuse of unarmed civilians on a large scale.” 

The groups also called on the UN Human Rights Council’s International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran to fully investigate the events in Javanrud from October 2022 – January 2023. 

“The international community should directly address the massacre and state crimes that took place in Javanrud, through every diplomatic, political, economic, and legal means available, including pursuing criminal responsibility for the perpetrators of these crimes through international courts or national judicial systems under the principle of universal jurisdiction,” the groups stressed. 

Rebin Rahmani, a board member of KHRN, expressed concern about the increasing wave of arrests of Kurdish activists now taking place ahead of the anniversary of the uprising, noting that “The Islamic Republic feels there are no repercussions for their crimes in marginalized regions such as Kordestan and Sistan-Baluchestan, so it is intensifying its violent and unlawful suppression in these areas.” 

CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi said, “As the one-year anniversary of the ‘Women Life Freedom’ protests approaches, the potential for renewed protest in Iran—and a violent state response aimed at crushing it—is high. The international community must remain extraordinarily vigilant, warning the Iranian authorities of intense political and economic consequences at the first sign of state violence.” 

In anticipation of the anniversary of the protests, the Islamic Republic has intensified its intimidation campaign over the last several weeks, detaining family members of dead protesters, locking up activists, targeting community leaders, and escalating persecution of minority groups and academia. 

The survey by the Netherlands-based Gamaan institute collected information from 38,445 people inside Iran about their views on media, revealing that only about 21 percent of the respondents followed the developments about Iran from the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). 

This 10-day online survey titled "Iranians' Attitudes Towards Media in 1402 Persian Calendar Year” (started March 21), targeted literate individuals aged 19 and above, a sample from 90% of the country's adult population. GAMAAN, the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran, is an independent, non-profit research foundation, focused on Iranians’ attitudes towards social and political topics.

The survey explored key indicators such as the "most popular channel," the "most trustworthy channel according to the audience," and the "primary source for following news of protests in Mahsa's movement." The results indicate that more than half of the respondents consider Iran International as their primary source of information and news about Iran. 

Iran International leads the pack with 54% cited as "often" or "sometimes" following the media outlet. Manoto TV garnered 42%, BBC Persian" 37%, IRIB 36%, and Voice of America Persian 34%. Additionally, about 32% claim to occasionally or more frequently watch Jam-e-Jam (the international bundle of IRIB channels) and 30% tune into MBC Persia. On the other hand, 48% of the population have stated that they never watch or listen to programs on the state broadcaster. 

When asked, "Which media outlets did you primarily follow for news about recent protests in Iran?" 57% indicated they followed news from Iran International, 30% from Manoto, 26% from BBC Persian, and 20% from Voice of America. Approximately 19% also received news about the protests from the IRIB, the state broadcaster tightly reflecting the views of the regime's hardliners.

In response to a question regarding the level of trust in media outlets, 50% express "a great deal" or "some" confidence in Iran International, 44% in Manoto, 42% in Voice of America, 40% in Radio Farda, and 34% in BBC Persian. On the other hand, only about 21% of the population trust state-run IRIB, while 59% have stated that they have "no trust at all" in the regime’s broadcaster.

According to the results of this survey, 68% of the population "often" use social media networks for obtaining information and news about Iran and the world, while 35% are viewers of satellite channels, 12% rely on state broadcaster IRIB, and 8% tune into foreign radio for the news. 

Among social media platforms, approximately 65% of the population "often" use Instagram, 46% use WhatsApp, 43% use Telegram, 17% use YouTube, 8% use domestic app Rubika, 8% use Twitter, 5% use Facebook, 3% use state-run platform Soroush, and 2% use Clubhouse for their online activities. All international social media platforms are blocked Iran, with people using VPNs to circumvent the censorship.

IRIB is tightly controlled by the office of Iran’s authoritarian ruler Ali Khamenei and has been losing its audience with its heavy religious programming and heavily censored news and biased programs. Critics say it is nothing but a propaganda tool with a hefty government subsidy of at least $600 million and no accountability. 

In June, the regime took one more step to tighten its control over entertainment content in line with its policy of enforcing religious restrictions on the population, gaining full control over content shown by privately-owned streaming services based on a decision taken by Iran's Supreme Cultural Revolution Council. 

Streaming services such as Filimo, an online video on demand (VOD) service like Netflix, have gained great popularity in Iran where there are no privately-owned television networks. These services provided an opportunity for independent and sometimes dissident filmmakers and artists to showcase their work. The head of the state broadcaster (IRIB), hardliner Payman Jebelli, in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi in January demanded that Filimo be blocked on the internet. 

Earlier this year, NGO Reporters Sans Frontiers, ranked Iran 177/180 nations for press freedom, citing the arrest of 70 Iranian journalists since the death of Mahsa Amini as one example of the regime's crackdown on voices of dissent. Iran International's reporters were threatened earlier this year by IRGC and intelligence (MOIS) agents, forcing some to relocate from London to Washington amidst security threats. Iranian journalists abroad have also been deluged with threats to their lives.

This year's Freedom House report on global freedoms also ranked Iran 12th in the 100 least free countries in the world.

Halvash, which specializes in news from Sistan and Baluchestan Province where the massacre of dozens of civilians happened last year, suggested that Iranian security forces are seeking the assistance of trusted and influential local figures for the potential meeting in a bid to quash further unrest.

The tentative date for the meeting is rumored to be September 11 in Tehran, according to Mostafa Mahami, a representative of Khamenei in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, with the government using promises of compensation and security to encourage participation.

During the suppression of the September 30 protests, known as Bloody Friday, at least 123 citizens, including women and children, lost their lives due to direct gunfire from military and security forces, with many succumbing to head and chest injuries.

The Sunni Friday Prayer Imam of Zahedan, Mowlavi Abdolhamid, persistently called for an investigation into the massacre and the prosecution of those responsible. However, to date, no one has been charged or tried in connection with the incident.

As the first anniversary of the nationwide uprising against the Islamic Republic, sparked by the government's killing of Mahsa Amini, approaches, the government has intensified pressure on families of victims seeking justice to stay quiet and refrain from further protest.