UN Experts Decry Iran’s Repression, Systematic Discrimination Against Women

In a statement issued on Friday, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said, “As courageous Iranians take to the streets to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, the United States is redoubling its support for the free flow of information to the Iranian people.” 

Noting that the Treasury seeks to increase support for internet freedom in Iran through updating the license after Tehran cut off access to the internet for most of its citizens.

"With these changes, we are helping the Iranian people be better equipped to counter the government’s efforts to surveil and censor them," Adeyemo said, adding that Washington in coming weeks would continue to issue guidance.

According to the Treasury, Washington has long provided some internet-related exceptions to its sanctions on Iran, but Friday's update to the general license seeks to modernize them, adding that the new amendment includes social media platforms and video conferencing in its covered categories of software and services and gives additional authorizations for services that support communication tools to assist ordinary Iranians in "resisting repressive internet censorship and surveillance tools deployed by the Iranian regime."

The license also continues to authorize anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-tracking software, the Treasury added.

The clip was aired intentionally as part of Tehran’s propaganda to undermine popular protests and link it to foreign-based figures advocating what the TV believes are extremist views.

For a couple of minutes a video clip showed Iranian singer-songwriter Shahin Najafi as well as some other outspoken critics of the regime.

Najafi said the main issue in the Islamic Republic is not only hijab – or the compulsory dress code – but the entire regime. “This is not the ultimate goal of the protesters,” he said, adding that the final goal is overthrowing the Islamic Republic.

“Alcohol must be legal; discos must be legal; dancing and concerts should be legal,” he said, noting that this regime should not last.

The attempt was meant to promote the Islamic Republic’s propaganda that the ongoing protests are because of Mahsa Amini’s death, but a conspiracy to overthrow the regime.

During the past few days Anonymous hacking group has been targeting many websites belonging to the Islamic Republic entities and organizations, including the official websites of President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The group started its cyber operations against the Islamic Republic in solidarity with the ongoing protests.

The hacking group targeted many other state-run websites and services and claimed that more than 2,000 street surveillance cameras were also hacked to prevent the government from surveying the protests and identifying people.

The #Mahsa_Amini hashtag and its Persian version are being used by a large number of people in Iran as well as many people abroad. 

The tally is about 10 times more than the trendiest hashtags on twitter, a feat achieved thanks to the cooperation of numerous celebrities and political figures as well as human rights activists and organizations. 

The number of retweets could have been even higher if the Islamic Republic had not shut down internet access in many parts of the country or had not blocked most pathways people use to circumvent filtering and sign in to Twitter. 

On Thursday, Hacktivist group ‘Anonymous’ took down the official website of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as nationwide protests were raging in the country. 

The hacking group targeted many other state-run websites and services and claimed that more than 2,000 street surveillance cameras were also hacked. 

While the government has cut internet access in the country, the group is also trying to raise awareness about the ways Iranian protesters can keep using the net to make their voices heard in the world, mainly through Tor, short for The Onion Router, a free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication.

The group started its cyber operations against the Islamic Republic in solidarity with the ongoing protests over the death of Mahsa Amini who died following repeated blows to the head reportedly by hijab enforcement police. 

If the Iranian government blocks the people from accessing the internet, Anonymous will block access to the government, the group said.

A video posted on Twitter shows a crowd of pro-establishment protesters marching on Enghelab (Revolution) Ave in central Tehran, a short distance of 700 feet, following Friday prayers at the campus of Tehran University who chant “Hypocrite Seditionists Must Be Hanged!” Some Tehran residents tweeted that the crowd was much smaller than in previous government-organized rallies.

In his sermon, Tehran’s Friday prayer leader Kazem Sadighi accused protesters of “unveiling Muslim women and torching the Quran” and urged the judiciary to punish “the leaders of the riots” who he called murderers.

The accusations by the Friday Imam are not substantiated by reports and video footage form the anti-government protests. There have been no reports of the Quran being burned and many women in the rallies still have their heads covered.

Iranian authorities usually call the opposition “seditionists”. They always attribute “seditions” to foreign powers such as the United States and Britain or the exiled Mojahedin Khalq organization, known as MEK, which in official rhetoric of the Islamic Republic are always rereferred to as ‘Hypocrites’.

The IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency said Friday morning that Iranians “will unanimously condemn riots” and published calls from various officials including Friday imams in various cities to rally against protesters after the prayers but footage and photos of such rallies are conspicuously very rare on social media and state affiliated news agencies.

Government-organized pro-establishment rallies have a long history in the Islamic Republic. On December 30, 2009, extensive government-sponsored rallies took place after months of opposition protests to show support for the clerical regime and justify suppression of dissent. Thousands mobilized by the state were bussed in to designated rally venues from government offices, schools, the military, and even factories. Officials and pro-establishment media refer to the occasion which has turned into an annual pro-establishment march as the "Dey 9 Epic”.

Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei on Thursdaysaid that the Judiciary would investigate the case of Mahsa Amini, the woman whose death in police custody triggered the popular protests, while threatening to take decisive action “without any leniency” against “rioters”. The Intelligence Ministry has also threatened protesters with legal prosecution.

Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also reacted over the protests Thursday after five days of mysterious silence by accusing and threatening the protesters. In its statement, the IRGC said it appreciated the efforts of the people and police in recent days against “enemies’ organized plots” and “protecting Iranians’ lives, assets and families”.

Iran's regular army (Artesh) also warned in a statement Friday thatit would "confront the enemies" to ensure security and peace in the country. Referring to the protests in the past few days, the army said,"these desperate actions are part of the evil strategy of the enemy to weaken the Islamic government" and expressed support for the Police and law enforcement forces.

The Army has long taken the back seat to the IRGC, with almost all its commanders and officers coming from the Revolutionary Guard.

The army’s statement came a day after a popular former national football (soccer) team player, Ali Karimi, called on Artesh, which is much less involved in politics or crackdown on protesters than the Revolutionary Guard, to side with the people to prevent “bloodshed” during current protests.

Karimi, 44, who lives in the UAE has also called on protesters not to attack banks, women clad in black veils, and respect the Quran. “Don’t join in with anyone who does these things because these are some of the plots of [regime agents to discredit] you my dear people,” Karimi tweeted Thursday. Videos posted on social media show protesters chanting Karimi’s name and cheering him in some areas of Tehran Thursday evening.

In a letter to Yellen published on Thursday, the lawmakers wrote that the SpaceX CEO “recently stated that SpaceX would seek a license to provide its satellite based Starlink Internet service to Iran,” urging the Treasury Department to facilitate such an action. 

The letter was led by Representatives Claudia Tenney, a New York Republican, and Tom Malinowski, a New Jersey Democrat, and signed by several other lawmakers in the House.

“Congress is calling on the Treasury Department to do everything in its power to help the Iranian people stay connected to the Internet,” Tenney said in a statement. “We need to cut through any bureaucratic red tape and get this done.”

They made the move in reaction to a tweet by Musk, who had asked for an exemption to be able to send the necessary equipment to the Islamic Republic. 

The move was prompted after Iran has cut internet or slowed it down and filtered almost all platforms that protesters can use to make their voice heard, but the elephant in the room is how exactly Musk can send equipment legally to the country that opposes such technology and how people will be able to use it under the clenched control of the regime.

The US Treasury Department said a day earlier that satellite internet equipment are not under Washington’s sanctions and can be exported to Iran, suggesting that a license is not needed to provide the firm's Starlink satellite broadband service in the country.

The statement by the Treasury did not specify whether the license would apply to Musk's plans, so the lawmakers also asked Treasury to clarify its policies for fostering communications access in sanctioned countries and urge the department to issue any necessary “comfort letters” to entities that may seek to provide communications services under previously issued general licenses.