Thousands Stage Protests against Acid Attacks on Women

Thousands of Iranians have staged protests in Isfahan and Tehran over several recent acid attacks against women, reportedly for not being “properly” veiled. Today, people demonstrated in front of Majlis building in Tehran and Judiciary building in Isfahan, where the acid attacks took place, demanding authorities bring to an end the spate of attacks on young women.

Assailant riding on motorbikes have thrown acid in the face of at least eight women who were driving in the streets of Isfahan with their windows pulled down. Local media say the number of victim could be higher. The attacks have so far claimed one life. (The Guardian, 22 October)

“Isfahan doesn’t want Daesh (ISIL), stop acid attacks!” Tehranis chanted. (Saham News)

“Freedom and security are the rights of Iranian women,” chanted demonstrators in Isfahan.

Fars News Agency has estimated the number of participants in today’s Tehran demonstration at around 2,000.

Photos: Aria Jafari (ISNA)

Demonstration in Iran in support of Kobane against ISIL

Photos recently uploaded on social media depicting young, liberal Iranians inside Iran demonstrating support for Kobane against ISIL:

Photos: Negar Mortazavi

Hong Kong Today!

Protests Continue!

Photo: Twitter/@ianbremmer, 4 October 2014

Hong Kong Protests Spread

Opposing Plans to Create Committee to Screen Out Candidates for City Leadership

Thousands have taken to the streets in Hong Kong, with clashes between pro-democracy protesters and the authorities escalating. The police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowds that have besieged the city government headquarters since Friday. The protesters oppose the planned electoral changes introduced by Beijing, which would set up a committee dominated by functionaries loyal to the Chinese government to screen out candidates for the post the city’s chief executive. Pro-democracy groups call the proposal a mockery of the election.

The South China Morning Post reported today that the authorities were struggling to cope with sheer number of protesters, with some of the city’s busiest thoroughfares paralyzed. The Occupy Central, the most prominent groups fighting against the planned electoral changes, said additional protesters are pushing their way to join the main protest site at Tamar Park. The police have arrested nearly 100 protesters since Friday.

Occupy organizer Benny Tai Yiu-ting told the Morning Post “no one would be able to stop the campaign now… It would only end when the current chief executive steps down and the Beijing government retracts it decision.” (South China Morning Post, 28 September)

Photo credit: Protesters rally against planned electoral changes in Hong Kong; 28 September 2014 (Top photo: The South China Morning Post; Bottom photo: Getty Images)

Beijing Coverage of Hong Kong today:
China News reports: "Hong Kong people enjoy green space and sunshine."

 Photo credit: China News/Twitter/ianbremmer, 28 September 2014

Bakhtiari Protests in Iran

There have been a number of protests by Bakhtiaris recently in Isfahan and Ahvaz, among other cities, who say they have been insulted by a broadcast aired by IRIB, the state broadcasting system. They are demanding the removal of the director of IRIB. The Bakhtiari is one of the prominent tribes in Iran.

A loyal reader of this blog has shared with us the photo, seen above, and links to YouTube videos on the subject.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yi_eQ0DHd9Y&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dyi_eQ0DHd9Y

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0yQTspPRwt4&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0yQTspPRwt4

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xeHRPkNBTc8

IRGC “Regrets” Supporting Ahmadinejad – Official

Hojat-ul-Islam Ali Saidi-Shahroudi, Ayatollah Khamenei's representative to IRGC, said IRGC regrets it has supported Ahmadinejad in the past.

“I admit that I have supported Ahmadinejad in the past, but we did not have the precise knowledge of what is going on in his mind, or what he wants to do in the future,” Saidi-Shahroudi noted. (Etemad, 22 October)

“Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could have been a hero, yet he behave the way so that people who were on his side, switched to the side of opposition, turning against him,” Saidi-Shahroudi added.

IRGC actively supported the re-election of Ahmadinejad in 2009 against his main rival, the reformist candidate and former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi. Disputes over vote fraud and massive demonstrations followed the election on 12 June 2009. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei then publicly sided with Ahmadinejad and against the opposition. IRGC, Basij and Security Forces began massive suppression of the opposition and dozens were killed and thousands detained. Mousavi and opposition leaders were arrested. Mousavi is still under house arrest and many are still incarcerated.

After the election, Ahmadinejad started moves deemed in defiance of Ayatollah Khamenei and the country’s conservative establishment. After Khamenei publicly ordered the re-elected president to dump his newly appointed principle deputy (also called the first VP) Eskandar Rahim Mashaie for his support of a “deviationist” ideology, Ahmadinejad reappointed him as his chief of staff, as influential and important a post. The tensions between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei reached a new high in 2011 when Ahmadinejad fired the minister of intelligence, Heydar Moslehi, who had been handpicked by Khamenei himself, only to be reinstated by Khamenei in a public display of humiliation for the president. Ahmadinejad in turn sat home and did not show up for work for 11 days, creating a severe political crisis.

In the latest sign of Ahmadinejad’s defiance of Khamenei’s direct authority over intelligence and security organs, he publicly announced last week that he was going to visit the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, where one of his top aides, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, is being held. Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's press advisor and head of the country's state news agency IRNA, was sent to Evin in September to serve a six-month sentence for publishing an article deemed offensive to public decency and insulting Ayatollah Khamenei.

Iran’s Judiciary, also under direct control of the supreme leader, has blocked Ahmadinejad’s request, publicly not allowing a sitting president to visit the country’s main prison.

It is within such context, that Khamenei’s personal representative to IRGC is now saying that IRGC regrets supporting Ahmadinejad.

The next presidential elections in Iran will take place on 14 June 2013. Ahmadinejad is barred to seek more than two consecutive terms as president.

Photo credit: Hojat-ul-Islam Ali Saidi-Shahroudi, Ayatollah Khamenei's representative to IRGC. October 2012 (Etemad Newspaper).

IRGC-Basij Joint Exercise (II)

Drill to Crush Street Protests

RGC-Basij elite rapid reaction units on Friday conducted drills on the streets of Tehran to quell protests. This was their second day of maneuvers. On Thursday, they practiced hostage rescue. The exercises are code named Ela Beit-ul Moqadas (“To Jerusalem”). [Fars News Agency, 19 October]

Photo credit: Meghdad Madadi/Fars News Agency

Majlis Ends Impeachment Against Member of Cabinet

Amid Rising Concerns Over the Country’s Economy

Iran's parliament, Majlis, today abandoned its planned impeachment of a member of Ahmadinejad’s Cabinet amid rising concerns over the economic situation in the country. Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani stopped the debate on impeaching the Sports and Youth Minister Mohammad Abbasi, saying “because of the economic situation,” lawmakers thought that fixing the economy had priority over politics.  

“Parliament made a right decision. Regarding the current economic situation, the parliament prefers dealing with economy,” larijani said.

“The economy is not in a good situation,” said MP Kamal Alipour, one of the members of Majlis who had signed the impeachment request. “The currency is not in a proper condition,” he added.

“The currency is the main problem,” said another MP, Mohammad Qasim Osmani.

Meanwhile, Tehran chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said that since Wednesday, 30 people have been detained for “disrupting the currency.” On Wednesday, protests over the plummeting rial flared in Tehran after the currency hit a historic low of 35,500 rials to the dollar. The rate was at 20,000 in January of this year, and 10,500 in January 2011.

The arrests announced by the prosecutor’s office are part of an effort by the government to control the currency crisis through the security apparatus. Many Iran observers do not believe that the economic and psychological underpinnings of the rapid drop in the value of the rial could be resolved in the long run by police crackdown and other security measures.