Iranians Relish TV Movie Scene Depicting Attack On Clerics

According to reports from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), citing informed sources, Pirzadeh has been admitted to the intensive care unit due to a heart condition, specifically arrhythmia.

Sources close to Pirzadeh's family revealed that the political prisoner has been experiencing various health issues since last month, necessitating urgent angioplasty.

Pirzadeh gained attention when he was released from Ahvaz Prison on February 11, 2023, after enduring months of hunger strikes and grappling with critical physical conditions.

However, his freedom was short-lived as he was rearrested by security forces in Ahvaz approximately seven months later, in September. Subsequently, on October 15, 2023, he was transferred from Ward 209 of Evin Prison, operated by the Ministry of Intelligence, to Ward 6 of the same facility.

The former bodybuilding champion was handed a sentence of five years and eight months in prison on charges of "gathering and collusion and propaganda against the system."

According to relatives, Pirzadeh's health struggles render him unable to endure imprisonment due to his deteriorating physical condition.

His case brings to light broader concerns about the treatment of political prisoners in Iran, with numerous reports highlighting the lack of timely medical attention and disregard for their right to proper treatment by prison authorities.

Over the years, several political prisoners, including civil activist Sasan Niknafs, poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin, and protesting citizen Javad Rouhi, lost their lives in prison. Despite mounting evidence implicating pressure, torture, and insufficient medical services in these deaths, the Islamic Republic has consistently shirked responsibility for their deaths.

Shargh newspaper raised questions in a recent report, pondering how the group managed to attend the matches if Iran had not officially introduced them to the Asian Football Confederation.

Last week, Iran International released images from the halftime break of the Iran-Hong Kong match, revealing Iranian women from the Bahar group engaging in dance and singing performances.

The state broadcaster refrained from airing the program, despite it being held on the sidelines of Iran's matches in the Asian Cup.

In response to the video's release, Iranian authorities sought to downplay the group's presence in Qatar, labeling it as "uncoordinated."

Ensieh Khazali, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs in Ebrahim Raisi's government, called for punishment for the women involved in the group.

Amid ongoing controversies surrounding the event, Shargh newspaper published a report delving into the ambiguities and questions surrounding the government's denial.

The newspaper inquired, "If the group was not officially introduced by Iran, then what cultural programs has the Iranian Cultural Committee executed in the Asian Cup under the name of Iran?"

Highlighting a historical precedent, Shargh emphasized that this isn't the first time a women's group has participated as an Iranian music ensemble in football and international competitions. The Bahar group also performed during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Prior to Iran International's release of the Bahar women's group's performance video, the sports authorities of the Islamic Republic had remained silent on the matter.

According to reports from Dadban, a group of pro-bono lawyers in Iran defending political prisoners and rights activists, the two protesters have been condemned to death in Semirom, Esfahan province, on charges of Moharebeh or "waging war against God."

Dadban further reveals that the two, detained since January last year, have endured severe torture, with Mehran Bahramian suffering broken arms and legs under torture.

Their arrests stemmed from their involvement in a fortieth-day ceremony honoring deceased protesters and their alleged connection to the death of a security officer named Mohsen Rezaei.

Fazel Bahramian's brother, Morad Bahramian, is counted among the victims of nationwide protests.

Despite domestic and international criticism, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic persists in handing down death sentences to protesters and political detainees.

The recent spate of executions in Iran has triggered a barrage of condemnation from human rights activists and global organizations. Vedant Patel, Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, denounced the Iranian government's suppression tactics, highlighting the lack of democracy and transparency within its political system.

Earlier this month, the UN experts disclosed that at least 834 individuals were executed in Iran in 2023, with eight of them linked to nationwide protests. Urgently calling on the Iranian government to cease the ongoing wave of executions, the experts demanded a reassessment of the country's use of the death penalty.

Over the past days, a video has gone viral in Iran which shows Hossein Amir-Abdollahian being unable to read aloud an English text during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation of the Middle East held on January 23.

His inability to pronounce simple English words was received negatively by the Iranian public, with many saying they felt embarrassed and crestfallen by the incident.

Referring to the video, reformist commentator Abbas Abdi taunted Amir-Abdollahian by saying that he has even a bigger problem than “not knowing English.”

We should ask how familiar Amir-Abdollahian is with international and foreign affairs, Abdi pointed out.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a senior aide to former President Mohammad Khatami, wrote on X that many presidents and foreign affairs ministers speak in their mother tongues at international organizations.

“Simultaneous interpretation is available. Why does Mr. Amir-Abdollahian insist on speaking English and bringing disgrace to the country?” Abtahi stressed.

Meanwhile, Yaser Jebraili, a politician close to Iran’s political establishment, stressed that the Islamic Republic officials should not use Arabic, English, and other languages to speak at international organizations.

They should be obliged not to speak in any language other than Persian, he said.

Etemadonline, a news website, juxtaposed Amir-Abdollahian’s speech at the UN and a video of an Iranian Baloch old man explaining in English about the tradition of using hand fans in their region.

Some social network users in Iran have also drawn analogies between Amir-Abdollahian and Reema bintBandar, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, whose fluent English while defending a ceasefire in Gaza has grabbed the attention of many Iranians.

There have also been several references to the language proficiency of many former Iranian officials during the reign of Pahlavi, including Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi himself who could speak fluently in English and French.

Hardliners, however, have defended Amir-Abdollahian, saying a foreign minister should not necessarily be judged by his knowledge of foreign languages.

Ahmad Khoei, a political analyst close to the regime, called Mohammad Reza Shah, King Abdullah of Jordan, and some other officials of the region as “apprentices of colonization” and said they know English because they were “trained” in the universities of “Western occupiers.”

“If one doesn’t speak the colonial language like one’s mother tongue, they will be under attack from the beginning,” Khoei added in defense of Iran’s foreign minister.

An active card-carrying member of the IRGC’s Basij paramilitary force, Amir-Abdollahian is considered to be very close to the inner circle of power in the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s foreign minister is also an affiliate of the IRGC Quds Force and has been accused of being involved in planning meetings in Beirut and Tehran prior to the Hamas October 7 onslaught on Israel, which saw at least 1,200 killed and 240 more taken hostage.

Moussa Salimi, the secretary of the election office in South Khorasan, announced Friday that of the five people that had registered to run in the election, one withdrew and three others were disqualified by the Guardian Council.

The decision leaves Raisi as the only remaining candidate in the province who can be voted for. The Guardian Council has followed a similar policy with regard to the Assembly of Experts election in other provinces as well.

In Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, only one candidate is allowed to run; in Qazvin, three seats are available for the assembly and only three candidates have been approved; in Gilan and Mazandaran, five candidates will compete for the four seats of the assembly; and in Eastern Azerbaijan, the Guardian Council has approved only six candidates while there are five seats.

The announcement came two days after Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani, once considered to be one of the candidates for succeeding Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was barred from running for re-election at the Assembly of Experts that is tasked with electing the next leader.

Iran International TV analyst Mehdi Mahdavi Azad argued that the Iranian people are indifferent to Rouhani's disqualification after his disappointing allegiance with Khamenei and his supporters.