An Iranian hacktivist group says it has started its cyber operations against the Islamic Republic in solidarity with the ongoing protests across Iran over the death of a hijab victim.
On Tuesday and Wednesday some state-owned websites, including the website of the Central Bank of Iran, were targeted by hackers claiming to be from the ‘Anonymous’ hacking group. A member of the group posted a message to the Iranians on Twitter on Tuesday, saying, "We are here with you. The operations against Iran began. wait for us."
At least two main websites of the Iranian government and some state-affiliated media webs as well as the state broadcaster IRIB were among the targets, some of whom were back on line after a few hours. One of the websites of the government hosts “smart services” and another is dedicated to publishing government news and interviews with officials.
“All database has been deleted,” claimed a social media account believed to be affiliated with Anonymous.
A video was also released early on Wednesday showing footage of protests in several Iranian cities that have erupted since Mahsa Amini died in custody of the hijab enforcement patrols. “This was the last straw,” an altered voice on the video said of Amini’s death. “The Iranian people are not alone”.
Following large anti-government protests in Tehran and Amini’s hometown as well as a couple of other cities in the Kurdistan province, demonstrations expanded Tuesday to many Iranian cities and towns, with gunshots reported.
The protests that started in Tehran late evening on September 16 following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, was not triggered by financial hardships Iranians have been experiencing in recent years.
Mahsa Amini’s death, a young woman from the Kurdish town of Saqqez, who was reportedly beaten by the hijab patrol agents after her arrest in the street, symbolized pressures the clerical regime exerts on the social freedoms of the young generation, and the regime’s lawless behavior.
The initial gatherings near the hospital where she passed away, were meant to pay respect to an ordinary young woman who was murdered although she had modestly covered her hair and body in the usual black scarf and long manteau many women hate to wear in Tehran's heat even in early autumn. She had not committed a crime or engaged in a major violation of a religious rule.
The crowd, mainly women, gathering around the hospital were angry women many of whom had been earlier forcefully detained and intimidate for their loose headscarves. As an Iranian scholar pointed out earlier this week, the Islamic Republic looks at women's body as a battlefront.
The only thing that has remained of Islam in the Islamic Republic that is overwhelmed by corruption, poverty, unemployment and millions of young men and women with no jobs, no home, no future, is hijab; the arbitrary dress code introduced by hardly educated clerics who have not seen any other country Islamic or otherwise, cannot speak Arabic, which is the language of the holy Koran, have never read a single non-religious book in their lifetime, and can enforce their rule only through coercion.
While the police continued beating protesters and state officials continued telling outrageous lies to explain the young woman's death, the protests spread to the rest of Tehran, particularly its universities, as well as many cities and small towns in various provinces, particularly Iran's culturally rich Kurdistan Province where the young woman came from.
A large part, and at times, most of the protesters are women, although the protests are now less about hijab and more about confronting a dictatorship that has been imposing the clerics' fanatical lifestyle on ordinary Iranians for 43 years. At the same time, many regime officials sent their family members to Europe, the United States and Canada to follow a luxurious lifestyle that has nothing to do with the way of life the clerics impose on the rest of the population.
Many social media users noted that the latest round of protests in Iran is being carried out by the country's embattled middle class. Analysts used to say that protests after 2017 were championed by barefoot hungry men living in the margins of big cities. In the Autumn of 2022, it is more middle-class young men and women who have taken to the streets fearlessly. In many of the videos going viral on social media, fragile young women are seen shouting at policemen with shabby beards and big bellies who brandish their brand new heavy Chinese batons one of which probably shattered Mahsa Amini’s skull.
Many of the protesters are born after 2000. They are the generation Z that the Islamic Republic and its clerics have no idea about. The aging officials do not know who they are and what they think. They are the social media generation that the Islamic Republic, its medieval clerical rulers and old-fashioned police force with their outdated weapons can hardly understand. They have their own slang and jargon, and do not care for the "values" the clerics propagate and their untrained militia try to enforce. This is an anachronic dictatorship. Like a cart pulled by donkeys amid a modern expressway. Not only they cannot move forward, but they also disrupt the flow of traffic for those who have the right vehicles for the 21st century.
Iran's Supreme Leader is to meet with his top brass early Wednesday morning. While millions of young middle-class highly educated Iranians that have taken to the streets in recent days are determined to push forward and ignore the barriers, he is likely to persuade his poorly educated, fanatic, obedient militia to shut down the Internet as the "mother of all evil" and use their fire-arms more rigorously to crack down on "rioters, separatists, seditionists and agents of foreign powers," as he and Iran's other hardliners brand those who struggle for civil liberties.
Agent Provocateurs have already paved the way for the crackdown by setting fire to the Islamic Republic flag. A scenario we all know from the 2009 protests to the present day. It's the regime's suppressive might versus the young generation's determination. The winner will be determined in the long run.
In the meantime, ironically, as some social media observers have noted, the police is likely to continue beating people to prove that Mahsa was not beaten to death.
So far large and small protests have been reported from many large cities and provincial capitals including the religious city of Mashhad, capital of Khorasan-e Razavi Province in northeast; Tabriz capital of East Azarbaijan Province in northwest; Rasht, capital of northern province of Gilan where at least a dozen were arrested in last night’s protests; the religious city of Qom, capital of a province of the same name where most Iranian religious seminaries are located; Ilam, capital of western province of Ilam; Hamedan, capital of a province of the same name; Kermanshah, capital of Kermanshah Province, and Zanjan, capital of Zanjan Province where security forces have clashed with protesters and shot at them.
Later, reports came of protests in Bandar Abbas, a key port city on the Persian Gulf, in Shiraz, capital of Fars Province and in Qazvin.
The protests began Friday when a 22-year-old woman who was arrested a week ago by the Islamic Republic’s hijab police and fatally wounded in custody. She died on Friday, plunging the country into social unrest.
The protests on Monday were reminiscent of large demonstrations in 2009, as thousands of women seemed to be leading the movement, with the critical difference that after 13 years many Iranians have come to reject the clerical system as a whole rather than any particular policy or decision.
Many women took off their headscarves not only in Tehran but even small, traditional towns, to protests the policy of forced hijab. Protesters also chanted slogans against the country’s aging ruler, Ali Khamenei who has increasingly tightened the rule of religious hardliners and his own loyal supporters. He has also resisted reaching an agreement with the United States that would lift sanctions and help the ailing economy.
Although the demonstration at the bazaar has already started, activists have called for more protests in central parts of Tehran at 6:00 pm local time or 9:30 am Washington DC time. In the meantime there is unrest in Tabriz and Mashhad, the second largest city in Iran.
Protests came to an end around midnight in most location, while there no final figures about casualties and arrests. We conclude out live coverage at 20:50 GMT or 16:50 EDT.
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Protests in the capital Tehran generally ended at around 23:00 local time with one eyewitness telling Iran International that he saw the largest concentration of anti-riot and security forces in the city confronting protesters who tried to barricade themselves and pile up objects to throw in self-defense.
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Protesters have burned a vehicle belonging to anti-riot forces is Sabzevar, a city of around 210,000 in eastern Razavi Province.
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A 22-year-old protester shot dead by security forces in Orumieh, capital of West Azarbaijan Province has been identified as Farjad Darvishi.
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An hour before midnight in Iran, protesters have remained on the streets in many cities, clashed with security forces who are mostly using tear gas and batons, and burned their vehicles in several places, but there have also been reports of gunfire, although limited in scope. There are no confirmed reports on arrests or possible casualties.
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Protesters have set fire to several vehicles used by security forces in Qazvin, capital of Qazvin Province.
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Tuesday evening - Protesters have taken to the street in Gorgan, capital of the northern province of Golestan, chanting and burning headscarves. One of the videos on social media show security forces attacking protesters.
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Teusday evening - Protests began in Bandar Abbas, capital of the southern province of Hormozgan, as night fell. Protesters are marching on the streets and chanting.
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Protests have continued in central Tehran where thousands are chanting slogans against the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. A video from Palestine Square close to Tehran University shows security forces firing at protesters. The IRGC-linked Fars news agency has reported that security forces have used tear gas to disperse protesters.
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Tuesday Evening - People have taken to the streets and are chanting in Shiraz, capital of the southern Province of Fars. Gunshots are heard in a video posted on Twitter.
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Reports from Iran indicate complete internet shutdown in Kordestan Province where at least four died in anti-government protests Monday, and serious disruptions in mobile internet in several other cities including the capital Tehran, Orumieh, the capital of West Azarbaijan Province, Isfahan, capital of Esfahan Province, and the southwestern Khuzestan Province where extensive protests occurred in May after a massive increase in food prices. “The authorities prevent coverage of protests … RSF demands the restoration of the Internet in Iran!”, Reporters Without Borders tweeted.
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More videos are emerging as evening draws closer which show protesters in other cities such as Kerman, capital of the eastern Kerman Province, are joining the protests.
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Tuesday afternoon - Hundreds have taken to the street in Qazvin, capital of a province of the same name to the west of the capital, chanting “Down with the Dictator” and slogans against clerics. Protesters are booing the police and security forces.
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Tuesday afternoon- Videos from Ilam, capital of a western province of the same name, shows protesters calling Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “Our Foolish Leader!” and chanting “Death to Khamenei”. There were no protests in Ilam Province Monday.
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Tuesday afternoon - A video from Hamedan, capital of Hamedan Province shows a very large crowd of protesters chanting against the police and shouting “Scoundrels” at them. This is the first time protesters have taken to the street this week in Hamedan, a city of around 800,000.
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Tuesday afternoon - A video posted on Twitter shows a large group of protesters chanting slogans, “Down with the Dictator” at Shariati Square in Mashhad, Iran's second-most populous city. Protests in Mashhad began Monday.
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A 4-second video shows a group of mainly women chanting “Scoundrels” at police in Zanjan, capital of a province of the same name, for not allowing them to gather while in another video protesters are seen fleeing from security forces who according to social media reports are present in large numbers in some areas of the city.
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Around 18:00 local time - There are some reports of heavy presence of security forces as people gather on the streets of Tabriz, capital of East Azarbaijan Province, where protests have been quite rare in the past few years. Students of Tabriz University have begun protesting, “Students chanted against discrimination and dictatorship. At least one female student in a video posted on Twitter dropped her headscarf at the gathering of students.
Protest in the University of Tabriz
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Late afternoon - Gunshots are heard in Mashhad as anti-riot forces are seen pursuing protesters through a main square.
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Deputy Chief of Gilan province law enforcement, Colonel Hossein Hasanpour, said Tuesday that 22 protesters, who he called ‘rioters’ were arrested Monday night in the provincial capital Rasht.
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He was first blacklisted in 2011 as Iran’s prisons’ organization chief over “serious human rights violations.”
Gholam-Hossein Esmaili is sanctioned over his "complicity in the massive detention of political protesters and covering up abuses performed in the jailing system."
He was the spokesman of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic from 2019 until 2021, and served as Tehran Province’s chief justice from April 2014 until August 2019. The former prosecutor was appointed as the head of president’s office on August 8, 2021, the same day Raisi also named Mohammad Mokhber, the chairman of the powerful state-owned foundation sanctioned by the United States.
Raisi – who is himself on US and European sanctions list – is currently in the US along with a large entourage to attend the UN Assembly, despite heavy pressure on the Biden administration to deny a visa for him.
Raisi served as Iran’s Judiciary chief before becoming president in August 2021, but he spent most of life in the Islamic judiciary and is accused by human rights groups of taking part in gross violations of human rights. He was a member of a death committee that ordered the killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, an involvement he has proudly admitted.
Israel carried out airstrikes on Syria's Damascus International airport and other positions south of the capital on late Friday and early Saturday, September 16 and 17, targeting what is called 'Unit 2250' -- a special Iranian logistics institution run by Tehran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Established as a subset of Unit 2000, the outfit is headquartered in Damascus with many offices across Syria such as the suburbs of the capital as well as Latakia, Hama, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor.
The unit is in charge of receiving incoming equipment, weapons and personnel from Iran as well as supporting the Iran-backed Lebanese forces in the country. It is also tasked with escorting and hosting senior Iranian officials and their families upon arrival in Syria, which are usually carried out in coordination with senior Syrian authorities.
In the recent attack the warehouses, parking lots and even the main office were targeted by Israeli strikes. “The aggression led to the death of five soldiers and some material damage,” Syria’s official news agency SANA quoted a military source as saying.
According to exclusive information received by Iran International, the unit is under the direction of someone identified only as ‘Seyyed Reza’ while two other employees of the office are identified as Abdollah Ebadi and Meysam Katbi.
Seyyed Reza is the head of the office in the Damascus branch and has for many years been an a key Iranian asset for its activities in the region. He had earlier worked as the representative of the unit in Tehran for several years.
Abdallah Ebadi is one of the senior members of the unit who is in charge of transferring weapons through passenger flights, mainly through delivery of hand luggage from Iran to Syria.
Meysam Katabi is responsible for the transfer of personnel as well as weapons between Iran and Syria. He used to serve in a similar post in the 190th unit of the Quds (Qods) Force, the extra-territorial arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Iran's increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon including Hezbollah, regional diplomatic and intelligence sources told Reuters.
Tehran has adopted air transport as a more reliable means of ferrying military equipment to its forces and allied fighters in Syria, following disruptions to ground transfers.
A senior Israel Defense Forces officer said on Thursday that Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militia groups are withdrawing from areas in Syria that have been targeted by Israel. The apparent withdrawal of these forces from some regions is “a result of the IDF strikes” in recent weeks. He did not say which parts of Syria he was referring to.
Israel has been targeting Iranian weapons supplies since 2017 to prevent Tehran from expanding its foothold in Syria and transferring more weapons to its proxy forces.