EU Mulls Classifying Iran Guards As Terrorists - Germany

According to a report on the website of UK’s Daily Express, top officials of the Islamic Republic are reportedly attempting to secure British passports for their families to exit the country since Iranians have revolted against the regime following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was killed in police custody in September.

Citing an unnamed Iranian source, the report also claimed that officials have been chartering up to "five flights a day" for their families, adding that some sections of “Tehran’s main airport” have been taken over as a fast-track area for their own family and friends to escape the country.

The source said things are moving fast at the airport, noting that “It started more than two weeks ago. The regime changed all security details at the airport. They were moving civilians (friends and family) from the back entrance of the airport directly to the airplanes for international flights.”

According to the source, the airport authorities have taken several measures to prevent the news of the departures from reaching the media and people, saying, “They would move the regular staff away whenever this was happening and confiscate their phones. They also replaced the regular staff who are handling the…VIP section of the airport with their own staff.”

However, so far there have been no confirmed reports about regime insiders and their families leaving the country.

The source added that top officials of the regime are also seeking to acquire Canadian, British and Swiss passports.

British conservative lawmaker Bob Stewart said he has heard that Iranian officials are fleeing to the United Kingdom and asked Foreign Office Minister Gillian Keegan if those reports would be investigated. In Response, Keegan has said, "Obviously, we have our own rule of law here in the UK, but in relation to the rumors…about passports, I haven’t heard those, but I will certainly look into that and write to him.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on October 29 that his country will tighten visas for people affiliated with the Iranian regime. Germany has also made a similar announcement.

The exodus of Islamic Republic politicians and officials comes on the backdrop of daily protests that seem to be gaining momentum during the last six weeks, with more and more states expressing support for the uprising and sanctioning regime officials.

There are also unconfirmed reports that officials are transferring their assets to friendly countries and there are official reports that many high-priced and luxurious real estates in the capital Tehran are being sold below market value, strengthening speculations that some of the rich are in a hurry to leave the country.

Social media users are reporting regular money transfers abroad by high-ranking officials of the regime. According to one account, former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s wife is said to have transferred €4 million to an ABC Bank account in Shanghai through some agencies in Dubai.

A recent report by the government’s official news agency, IRNA, confirmed the sale of many apartments cheaper than their estimated prices, describing it as the result of lower purchasing power due to economic crisis. However, the purchasing power of Iranians has been low for at least a couple of years due to 40-percent inflation, but the housing prices never dwindled.

Moreover, a lot of top officials, including lawmakers and military commanders, have been active in the construction business in recent years, making the best use of their connections to circumvent regulations and the ability to take big bank loans, something impossible for ordinary Iranians.

Students at Universities of Tehran, Mashhad, Hamedan, Mazandaran, Sanandaj, Zanjan, Shiraz, Qazvin and several others held gatherings, strikes and sit-ins.

Students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature of the University of Tehran held demonstration against gender segregation in campus cafeterias, and in other faculties students chanted, “We don’t want child-killing regime!”

Meanwhile, students of Allameh Tabatabai University staged a sit-in, protesting the suspension of 50 students and threats to expel them.

At Northern Tehran Branch of Azad University students chanted “Death to Dictator” on Sunday when the university's pro-regime Basij members attacked them.

In Qazvin, students of International University protested against widespread repressions and lack of security in the dormitories.

In Khorasan-Razavi province, students of Ferdowsi University in Mashhad chanted against campus security joining forces with government militia.

Students at Montazeri Technical Vocational University of Mashhad also held demonstrations chanting that government is killing protesters to deny that it killed Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who died last month after being arrested by the Islamic Republic’s morality police for wearing “inappropriate dress.”

Also, the students at Mazandaran University in north of Iran held demos chanting slogans against regime brutalities.

Meanwhile, security forces fired tear gas and live rounds at female students of Sanandaj Technical and Vocational University who were shouting, “The blood in our veins is food for our leader,” referring to Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei.

At the same time, students of Zanjan University gathered in the courtyard, rejecting the government’s narrative about the attack on a Shia shrine on Wednesday chanting, “These scenarios are outdated, IRGC is ISIS itself.”

On Wednesday, October 26, as thousands of people across Iran were marking the 40th day since the death of Mahsa Amini official news websites reported a deadly “terrorist attack” on a Shia shrine in the southern city of Shiraz with over a dozen dead and many injured.

In Fars province, students at Shiraz and Zand University held protests in the campus and chanted slogans such as “This year is the year of blood, Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] will be gone.”

Based on reports, Basij militia forces clashed with students in Shiraz University and the students chanted “Basiji get lost!”

Large-scale protests by Iranian students comes after the Revolutionary Guard’s hardliner commander threatened the students on Saturday claiming “this small number of students are echoing the enemy’s voice.”

In recent weeks, security forces have used all their tactics to suppress the nationwide uprising against clerical rule, especially at universities.

The attackers, apparently supporters of the Islamic Republic or hired hitmen, were carrying handguns, machetes, and bats. 

They also tore up anti-regime posters and fled the scene in their Porsche, a protester told Iran International. One protester who was stabbed was taken to hospital. 

According to eyewitnesses, they seemed to be from Arab countries. 

Iranian expatriate communities are holding regular gatherings outside the Islamic Republic’s embassies around the world in support of the ongoing protests in Iran, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. 

Last Saturday, October 22, a huge gathering of Iranians, estimated to be over 100,000 people, took to the streets in the German capital to support their fellow-countrymen protesting against the clerical regime.

The October 22 massive Freedom Rally for Iran started in Berlin in what is being described as the biggest gathering of Iranian protesters across the world. People from all corners of the continent traveled to Berlin by buses, trains and planes.

The famous Iranian-Canadian activist Hamed Esmaeilion, who lost his daughter and wife in the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020 by the Revolutionary Guard, was one of the main campaigners to organize the global series of rallies.

Ali Khan-Mohammadi, the spokesperson of Iran’s Headquarters For Enjoining Right And Forbidding Evil, tasked with promoting the Islamic Republic’s interpretation of Islamic laws, said on Sunday that the body has signed an agreement with the country’s judiciary to use Basij paramilitary forces as hijab enforcers. 

According to the new agreement, the roles of mosques and local Basij bases will increase in the enforcement of dress code laws and commanders of Basij units will be ordained by the judiciary as official hijab enforcers.

Basij are religious zealots and a paramilitary force under the command of the Revolutionary Guard. Their involvement in hijab enforcement will further increase tensions in Iran.

Removing hijab is a legal offence by women, and the government’s position will not change in this regard, Khan-Mohammadi stressed. 

Since antigovernment protests started across the country in mid-September, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed in the custody of hijab, police, many Iranian women are now appearing in public places without headscarves to express solidarity with protesters.

On Saturday, Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Hossein Salami threatened people not to take to streets anymore saying that Saturday was the last day of protests. 

Fars news agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, reported his arrest on Sunday, describing him as one of “the leaders of the riots who promoted violence” on social media. 

The IRGC-linked news website claimed that the dissident rap artist was arrested as he was trying to cross the border and flee the country. Later in the day, his official twitter account, run by a foreign-based administrator, announced that he was arrested in western province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, which is not a border province. 

His page also posted his conversation with the rapper, in which he told the administrator how to continue covering the events of the uprising in case of his arrest. He had told the administrator to continue publishing stories about the protests and strikes in support of the people, warning him/her not to back any political parties or politicians. 

Earlier in the year, he was summoned by a revolutionary court in the central province of Esfahan. He did not elaborate on his sentence in a tweet he posted on January 24 but wrote that his prison sentence is suspended for a year. He was previously arrested in September 2021 by dozens of security officers who raided his house. He was released on bail eight days later, pending a trial.