Political Prisoner Executed In Orumiyeh As Deaths Of Kurds Soar

The motion, which passed by 516 votes in favor, five against and 14 abstentions on Thursday, vehemently condemned “this atrocious attempt to silence women and girls in Iran,” and expressed “its deep solidarity with the Iranian students poisoned in the incidents and with their families.”

According to reports by state media and Iranian officials, more than 1,300 pupils, mostly girls, have fallen ill after "suspected poisonings'', with some politicians blaming religious groups opposed to girls’ education. Some activists have accused the regime of orchestrating the poisonings as revenge for the active role by schoolgirls in the protests ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last September.

Urging authorities to ensure girls have non-discriminatory access to education, MEPs called on the Islamic Republic to repeal any legislation that discriminates against girls and women, saying that since the wave of attacks started in November 2022, thousands of girls and women across Iran have been poisoned with toxic chemicals to prevent them from attending school. 

It called on the Iranian authorities to grant full access to the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Reiterating its condemnation of “the regime’s anti-women and anti-girls policies,” the European Parliament reaffirmed “its absolute support for Iranian women’s and girls’ demand to abolish all systemic discrimination.”

The resolution also decried the regime’s months-long failure to act on the serial poisonings, as well as its deliberate suppression of credible reports of systematic toxic attacks. Denouncing any politically motivated legal proceedings against those reporting on the poisonings, the resolution called for the immediate unconditional release of all those imprisoned or prosecuted.

The parliament also repeated its call on the Council of Europe to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – IRGC -- as a terrorist organization and to expand the EU sanctions list under the EU Global Human Rights sanctions mechanisms to include Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, and Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri for their role in rights violations. 

The nine-point resolution also urged EU member states to facilitate the issuance of visas, asylum and emergency grants to those who need to leave Iran, "particularly women and girls". However, a point that was included in the proposed resolution but did not pass was a call “for the European institutions to reflect on the deeply rooted protest movement of Iranian women.” It sought to urge Europe to acknowledge “that this movement goes beyond the defense of women’s rights, advocating for a democratic state in Iran instead of a violent and reactionary theocracy.”

The Iranian government, police and judiciary have not issued a transparent and definitive report on the chemical attacks, vaguely claiming that dozens of arrests were made, without any sign of court action against alleged perpetrators.

Alinejad said in a tweet on Thursday that she urged Mark Rutte during their meeting to isolate the Islamic Republic and instead of meeting with regime officials, meet with the coalition of opposition forces.

“We the people of Iran deserve to have a secular democracy like the one you have in Netherlands. Our demand is simple: democratic countries should support pro-democracy movements instead of trading with our killers,” added Alinejad.

She went on to say that she informed Prime Minister Rutte of the torture and rape of minors in the prisons of Islamic Republic.

In another tweet she stated, “I hope all democratic leaders support the pro-democracy movements. A secular democratic Iran will make the world a much safer place. We have to stop the Islamic republic from raping, torturing and killing teenagers for demanding Freedom.”

In response, the Dutch prime minister told Alinejad that many countries in the EU are in favor of sanctioning IRGC and that he is working on the matter.

Despite the adoption of a resolution in the European Parliament to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group. The Revolutionary Guard, which is a military and intelligence force, playing the main role in suppressing Iranians, is not still recognized by the European Union as a terrorist group. The United States designated the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2019.

Shirzad Ahmadinejad, 41, was arrested on February 15 by intelligence forces, and died following brutal mistreatment in Revolutionary Guard’s detention center in Orumiyeh (Urmia).

The Kurdistan Press Agency claims the family were told by phone that Ahmadinejad had died of a heart attack, painfully reminiscent of the lies used to cover up the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, whose death triggered a wave of revolutionary fervor since September.

Ahmadinejad, believed to have been arrested for participating in protests, suffered from kidney disease and was denied access to medical services during his detention, according to the report.

It sparked mass protests in Bukan, West Azarbaijan Province, an area heavily populated by Kurds, where people lit fires in the streets and chanted slogans like “Death to Khamenei”.

Security has been stepped up in Bukan amid funeral preparations with checkpoints set up at the entrances of the city on Thursday. Violence reminiscent of that seen around the funeral of Amini and other similar figures, is expected.

The area is often the target of brutal crackdowns as the regime continues its suppression of the Kurdish minority. Also this week, two Kurdish citizens from Bukan were kidnapped by regime forces and taken to an unknown location, according to Kurdish rights group Hengaw.

A video published on social media shows Sepideh Qolian leaving prison without the mandatory hijab and shouting defiantly: "Khamenei, cruel ruler, we will topple you."

Reports say the fearless activist was arrested by security forces while returning home to Khuzestan. It is said that the citizens who filmed her arrest have also been detained.

Qolian was sentenced to five years in prison for “disrupting public order” and “assembly and collusion against national security” after her arrest in 2018 for her role in publicizing labor protests in Khuzestan. She has also gone on hunger strike several times.

Qolian’s forced confession was aired by the state television in January 2019, a stark warning to others of the consequences of speaking out against the regime.

In the program she was described as an agent provocateur with ties to Marxist groups abroad who had encouraged a strike at the Haft Tappeh Agro-Industrial Complex in Khuzestan.

Gholian later alleged that Ameneh-Sadat Zabihpour, an IRIB journalist involved in filming the confession, had been involved as an interrogator and had tortured her to confess before the camera.

It is all too common for activists to be falsely accused of such charges of espionage and colluding with foreign groups, for which the regime justifies they pay a heavy price in its brutal jails.

Bijan Nobaveh, Tehran's representative and a deputy at the cultural committee, admitted that as protests show no signs of abating, more repressive measures are ahead, with the approval of the administration and judiciary.

Increased state-wide surveillance will add further oppression to the country’s suffering population. “Identification of women without hijab in public spaces will be done through surveillance cameras, and punishment will be done according to the prepared tables [guidelines],” he said, though this is widely done already.

Women seen in public without their Islamic headscarf, required under regime law, have been seen multiple times being beaten by brutal security forces.

Further crackdowns to communications are set to come too, after months of internet shutdowns have blighted the country, including millions of women working from home who are now forced back into poverty. New punishments tabled include blocking mobile phones and internet of women who appear in public without hijab.

The announcement this week also reiterated threats against owners and operators of shops, malls and tourist attractions who do not confront women without headscarves. The Islamic Republic has closed down several businesses in the heavily touristic cities of Esfahan (Isfahan) and Kashan as well as in the capital Tehran in recent days, demanding management not allow access for uncovered women.

It is not yet clear how much money the regime, which is already bankrupt, is going to spend on the necessary technologies for such measures.

The new crackdowns come as no surprise. Before the unrest which began in September, triggered by the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini, there has long been talk of using cameras to identify women flouting the mandatory hijab rules, part of efforts by President Ebrahim Raisi’s hardliner administration to intensify pressures on women in society throughout the year.

In December, another member of parliament’s cultural committee, Hossein Jalali, said that hijab enforcement will never be abolished, ensuring that “veils will be back on women’s heads within two weeks.” Confirming that the regime is making some changes in enforcing hijab rules, he added that “it is possible that women who do not observe hijab would be informed via SMS, asking them to respect the law. After notifying them, we enter the warning stage... and in the third stage, the bank account of the person who unveiled may be blocked."

Iranian women appearing in public without headscarves has become a common sight across the country. Celebrities keep publishing photos and videos of themselves defying the regime and scuffles with security forces are still seen across social media on a daily basis.

While some politicians have demanded an end to compulsory hijab and laws that legalize discrimination against women, there are many others who have been talking about new methods and punishments to enforce hijab.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered an ambivalent speech about hijab in January, saying hijab is an inevitable duty for all Muslim women, but no Iranian woman should be labeled as non-religious if she fails to fully honor the Islamic dress code.

The Islamic Republic faces a dilemma. Allowing people to wear whatever they desire in public means the utmost failure of the regime's ideology, while enforcing hijab with strict punitive measures can only lead to further resentment in society.

Protests seems to have resulted in police being unable to confront the large number of women unveiling in public with its usual ferocity and the regime’s hardliners are worried that warmer weather in spring and summer would lead to more women defying the country’s strict hijab rules.

Firebrand Cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda -- who is President Ebrahim Raisi's father-in-law -- said earlier in the month that “the regime is no longer powerful enough to stand against women who defy compulsory hijab,”. Imam Mohammad-Nabi Mousavifard also said in February that the authorities should approve new laws to deal with women who do not observe hijab “otherwise women will come to the street naked this summer”.

On Tuesday evening, hours after the parliament session on enforcing the hijab, thousands of young Iranians took to the streets in several cities, dancing with their hair flowing freely and burning headscarves and photos of Khamenei. They came out to mark the ancient Iranian annual fire festival and used the occasion to vent their anger at security forces.