Iranian Lawyer Slams Death Sentence For Dissident Rapper

The declaration was made public during a session on Sunday by parliament member Ali Karimi Firoozjaei, who indicated that the number of supporting signatures continues to rise amid deepening oppression.

The lawmakers have called on various institutions to support the renewed police crackdown.

The stance aligns with actions taken since April 13, under the Plan Noor, which have sparked debate due to their severity.

The Revolutionary Guard has also joined in supporting the police mission to further enforce hijab, which has seen violent and sexual abuse of women in Iran.

Hossein Shariatmadari, representing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at Kayhan newspaper, has voiced approval for the police's actions.

Passed experimentally by the parliament last September for a trial period of three years, the bill proposes severe penalties for hijab defiance, including increased fines and prison terms.

Before any legal endorsement by the Guardian Council, the police have preemptively intensified their crackdown on women and girls. According to statements on May 3 by Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the aggressive approach was agreed upon last year in a meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi.

The escalation has sparked widespread criticism from civil rights activists and ordinary citizens, alarmed by the violent enforcement methods on the streets. Sedigheh Vasmaghi, an imprisoned scholar of Islam and vocal critic of the compulsory hijab policy, has denounced it as a failed policy.

Additionally, a group of 61 lawyers has declared the Plan Noor implementation as violating public freedoms and conflicting with both the Iranian Constitution and international human rights standards.

The announcement was made through the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency, which also released a video showcasing the yet-to-be-named drone, drawing comparisons to Russia's Zala Lancet model first produced in 2020.

The new drone reportedly resembles the Lancet in its capabilities, expected to have a flight endurance between 30 to 60 minutes, carry a payload of 3 to 6 kilograms, and achieve a range of up to 40 kilometers.

Iran's history with drone technology has been marked by its extensive provision of Shahed-type drones to Russia, which have been deployed against civilian targets and residential areas in Ukraine, which has led to global sanctions on the regime.

Furthermore, Iran's recent actions include an unprecedented assault on Israel using 350 missiles and suicide drones, although they were successfully intercepted by Israel and a US-led coalition.

Additionally, drones supplied to Iranian proxy groups in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon have repeatedly targeted US forces, Israeli territories, and maritime assets in strategic waters, inflicting damage and escalating regional tensions.

The deployment of the new drone technology occurs in the wake of new sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, aimed at curtailing Iran's missile and drone production capabilities.

In response, Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, criticized the sanctions, asserting that they would not impede the ongoing development of Iran's drone industry. 

The complaint was lodged by a teen known only as Hani, who said that on September 20, when playing football near a local prayer ground, he was allegedly approached by four motorcyclists. According to his account, two of the men, described as Afghan, brandished a knife, forced him onto a motorcycle, and transported him to a secluded garden where the assault occurred.

Medical examinations at a forensic center corroborated the teenager's claims, as reported by Etemad. However, the two Afghan men denied any involvement, blaming the assault on their two accomplices who remain at large.

With the investigation complete, the case is set to be discussed in the Criminal Court of Tehran Province. Meanwhile, the teen has requested the execution of the suspects and stated he is not willing to offer reprieve.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are among the organizations that have criticized Iran for its adherence to capital punishment, especially its application to cases involving juveniles and individuals under 18 at the time of their offense.

According to data released by Amnesty International, Iran ranks second worldwide in the number of executions carried out, following China.

Iran executed at least 834 people last year, a new record for the regime since 2015 as capital punishment is surging in the country.

Media activist Yashar Soltani had earlier exposed the two billion euro contract details on his website in which he revealed that the Chinese firm involved, a construction company founded in 2010, was ill-equipped for such a deal in public transportation.

Mehdi Eghrarian, a member of the council, raised concerns about the transparency and breadth of the contracts, questioning whether other agreements had been made with Chinese entities behind closed doors.

“Our question is whether, aside from equipment and public transport facilities, other contracts have also been signed in China or not? Are there other types of equipment currently being imported into the country?” Eghrarian inquired during the session.

During the session, seven council members walked out in protest while Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani was speaking.

Zakani has defended the contract, stating that all relevant authorities, including the ministry of industry, and the central bank, were informed about the specifics of the agreement.

Criticism from council members focused on the selection of the Chinese company and the haste with which the contract was finalized, bypassing the usual protocols. 

Narjes Soleimani, a city council member and daughter of slain IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani, questioned the prudence of selecting a limited liability construction firm as a financial and technological partner.

The dispute comes against the backdrop of frustrations with Tehran's aging and insufficient public transport fleet, compounded by air pollution in the city.

Council member Mohammad Aghamiri commented last year on the state of the capital's bus system, emphasizing the need for modernization and expansion to meet environmental and service standards.

Separately, the US Congress passed a long-stalled foreign assistance bill that contained several Iran sanctions. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed the measures into law, including the Mahsa Act that requires the US government to impose applicable sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his office and his appointees, Iran’s president, and several entities affiliated with Khamenei. The SHIP Act, another measure passed by US Congress, also targets Tehran’s illicit oil exports in defiance of US sanctions.

The fact that President Biden signed the bill was simply because it was part of military assistance to Ukraine, which his administration was desperately waiting to pass to prevent a Russian victory. Otherwise, the administration has failed to enforce oil export sanctions that are the most important punitive measure adopted by former President Donald Trump.

The US also designated four people and two companies it says were "involved in malicious cyber activity" on behalf of the country's military. The individuals and companies were working "on behalf of" Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC), the Treasury said. However, these have more of a declarative value rather than being forceful measures against a government that has supported the Hamas invasion of Israel, stockpiled enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb and sent hundreds of kamikaze drones to Russia.

IRI apologists,who have worked against major US sanctions for decades argue at the same time that these measures are not effective in putting pressure on the regime to change its behavior or to weaken its hold on power: “But, after four decades, the case of Iran shows the opposite to be true: sanctions strengthened the Iranian state, impoverished its population, increased state repression, and escalated Iran's military posture toward the US and its allies in the region.”

Let’s assume that this statement is true. Why sanctions that worked against South Africa and Iraq, are toothless against Tehran?

Is the existing sanction system against IRI effective in establishing deterrence and change the policies of the Islamic Republic? Not satisfactorily. Sanctions are effective when the economic and military establishments, the repression and propaganda machines, and the interests of the ruling elite are targeted constantly and forcefully. The purpose should be to deter, weaken, or change the regime’s behavior and not to deceive public opinion by an action that is not intended to be pursued.

Against their public gestures to “send a clear message to the Iranian regime”, Western governments have applied three methods in the past three years to minimize their sanctions:

While Europe has not imposed any significant economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic, the Biden administration has failed to vigorously enforce the oil sanctions on third parties involved in shipments from Iran. The SHIP Act promises to broaden the scope of restrictions on Iran’s crude oil exports by extending coverage to foreign ports, vessels, and refineries that knowingly engage in the trade but the Biden administration will not make any moves out of fear that they may increase the price of crude or the gasoline in the election year.

However, to what extent the administration would implement the restrictions in an election year is not certain, as they have repeatedly emphasized diplomacy with Tehran.

If the SHIP Act is implemented and enforced, the new sanctions could add as much as $8.40 to global prices, according to ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington-based consulting firm. It is clear that Biden does not want higher gas prices six months before the presidential elections.

Both the US and Europe have announced dozens of sanctions in recent past, which they call "smart" targeting individuals and entities involved in Tehran’s nefarious activities. But these measures are from exerting effective pressure on the Iranian government.

Despite publicly claiming to be pressuring Iran, the Biden administration has also released tens of billions of dollars to the Islamist regime that were blocked by US sanctions. It has effectively unfrozen an estimated $16 billion that Iraq and South Korea owed the Iran respectively but could not pay due to US sanctions.

The only time that sanctions exerted pressure was during the Trump administration’s maximum pressure policy. During Trump's tenure, the Tehran’s oil exports fell under 300k barrels per day, cutting off its major source of revenue. It was due to three factors.