Top US Press Club Honors Two Detained Iranian Journalists

Azki.com is an insurance brokerage start-up in Iran that sells insurance contracts from main government insurance companies. The emergence of photos showing some female employees without headscarves drew the ire of hardliner media, demanding the government to close the company for not enforcing the hijab regulations.

In response to the controversy, Azki.com issued a statement on Sunday stating that it was compelled to suspend its operations pending a government investigation. The company clarified that the unauthorized publication of the photos did not reflect its commitment to enforcing the country's laws, including the mandatory hijab.

In recent times, Iran has witnessed an increasing number of women defying hijab rules and appearing in public without headscarves, particularly following anti-regime protests. The regime initially hesitated to react, fearing further public backlash, but it has since revived its 'morality police' patrols on the streets. These patrols stop women without hijab, interrogate them, and impose heavy fines or refer them to courts for potential severe punishments.

Azki.com's suspension comes in the wake of the government's previous action against Digikala, often dubbed as Iran's Amazon, which was shut down on July 24 for similar reasons. The company's female employees were photographed without hijab, leading to demands from hardliners to take strict measures against the retailer and its staff.

Both Azki.com and Digikala are among numerous companies targeted by the regime for allegedly violating hijab rules. As the government continues its crackdown, several businesses have faced closures due to violations related to employees or customers not adhering to the mandatory hijab regulations.

Officials are well aware that people blame the regime for the continuation of US sanctions that has pushed annual inflation to 70 percent and has weakened the currency 12-fold in five years.

Iranian media on Sunday quoted Shahriar Haydari, the vice chair of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee as insisting that there are unmistakable signs of a Western desire to conclude a nuclear deal. He claimed that European powers and the United States continue contacts with Tehran to re-start negotiations, possibly in Oman, which he said has indicated it readiness to host the talks.

US State Department repeatedly said in June and July that there are no deals in the offing, although contacts with Tehran continue and talks have taken place in Oman. The main purpose of these talks reportedly revolves around freeing four Americans held hostage by Iran, but even this process has not made any visible progress.

Prisoner release plans have always included the proposal of freeing Iran’s frozen funds in South Korea as the big prize for Tehran to let the prisoners who have been arrested on baseless charges go free.

However, the Iranian government sent a draft bill to parliament July 29 that would authorize the executive to refer the case of the funds in Seoul to arbitration. This could be a sign that prisoner release talks have hit a snag and Tehran is resorting to desperate measures.

Nevertheless, lawmaker Haydari tried to sound optimistic about the outlook for a deal, blaming the “Zionist lobby” and Americans who oppose the revival of a nuclear agreement for its delay. Haydari said that a deal might not happen until after the US presidential elections, but the Americans and Europeans are knocking on Tehran’s door asking for negotiations.

Even before the November 2020 elections, candidate Joe Biden announced that he totally disagreed with President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to leave the Obama-era JCPOA accord and would try to return to the agreement. However, 18 months of indirect talks with Iran failed in September 2022 and later Washington repeatedly insisted that the JCPOA was no longer on its agenda.

Iranian analysts have been voicing pessimist since 2022 over the prospects of a deal, some seeing intransigence by Tehran and an unwillingness to change its foreign policy.

A new factor that emerged in late June could have added another complication to efforts to reach deals with Iran. The US administration’s special envoy for Iran Rob Malley was put on unpaid leave for an apparent security breach that is now under FBI investigation. Malley was committed to reviving the JCPOA and willing to offer financial relief to Tehran for progress.

A former senior Iranian foreign ministry official, Qassem Mohebali was quoted by Khabar Online website in Tehran on Sunday as saying that Malley’s departure could hurt the talks.

“Although America’s policies are not made by single individuals, but a person who is positively inclined toward Iran and solving its problem, and a person who did not have good relations with Israel and those opposing the nuclear deal, naturally could have played a more positive role in concluding an agreement,” Mohebali stated. “His dismissal could be interpreted as a negative sign in the nuclear talks,” he added.

Complaining that some people mourned the slaying of the revered third Shiite imam Hussein in a way that “pleases the enemy”, a pro-regime cleric said in a sermon in Qom that these mourners have chosen a style to be attractive to foreign media. He was referring to independent Persian broadcasters abroad that give coverage to protests and reflect critical views about regime.

Ashura, commemorated on the 10th of the Islamic lunar month of Muharram, is the anniversary of the death of Prophet Muhammed’s grandson and his 72 companions in the battle of Karbala in 680 AD. 

Some of the mourning songs by ordinary people marking the occasion, particularly in the eastern city of Yazd, were ripe with allusions to the protest movement and those who were killed by security forces. Crowds led by maddahs or eulogists also sang verses about poverty and destitution among Iranians who have become poorer in the past five years mainly due to the impact of US sanctions and a failed economic system ripe with corruption. 

In an Instagram post Friday, Ehsan Abedi, director general of Yazd Department of Islamic Culture and Guidance, also criticized the critical style of mourning that troubles the regime and its hardliner supporters, and alleged that the “enemy’s media” is cheering.

Over the years, the government has invested money and energy to make Ashura and other religious occasions a show for its support among ordinary people, but this year’s phenomenon of many people trying to take back their religion has received wide coverage on social media. 

The online Institute for Iranian Civil Society (Tavaana) reported Friday that agents of the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization (SAS) threatened the organizers of Yazd’s famous mourning ceremonies to stop them from singing songs that criticize the regime, but the congregation sang the “Poppies Growing From the Blood of Motherland’s Youth” while leaving the mosque in protest to their interference. 

Social media users have reported that security forces clashed with mourners in the city and arrested some of them. 

In several other cities people also paid homage to young people who were killed by security forces during the Mahsa Movement protests in 2022 and early this year. 

In Amol in the northern Province of Mazandaran, mourners who were clad in white instead of the traditional black of Shia mourners gathered outside the house of Ghazaleh Ghalabi, 33, who was shot in the head on September 21, soon after protests broke out following Mahsa Amini’s death in the custody of the morality police and visited her grave.

Participants sang the well-known “Poppies Growing From the Blood of Motherland’s Youth”, a revolutionary song from the era of Iran’s Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911). Ghalabi’s mother, Fatemeh Mojtabaei, and some other women defiantly attended the ceremony unveiled. 

In Tehran security forces dispersed the mourning youth who were trying to gather outside the house of Hamidreza Rouhi, a university student who was killed by the security forces firing on protesters on November 18, 2022. 

In some cities including Tehran in protest to the regime’s brutality, some mourners tied their own hands and feet to flagpoles to commemorate the death of Khodanour Lojei, a young man shot to death on October 1 in Zahedan, capital of southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan. 

A picture of Lojei with his hands and feet tied to a post with a bottle of water near him, which the thirsty young man could not reach, has turned into one of the icons of the protest movement. The performance alluded to the Shia belief that the Imam’s adversary, Yazid, cut his troops’ access to the waters of Euphrates and killed them after days of thirst in the parched desert. 

Yasin revealed an ordeal of "unknown drug" injection at Aminabad Psychiatric Center, leading to instability in his mental and physical well-being.

Prison authorities transferred him to the center a week ago, following his arrest during last year's nationwide protests.

Sending a message to Hengaw Human Rights Organization, a Kurdish rights group, from within Rajaeeshahr prison in Karaj, the artist expressed grave concern about his deteriorating condition.

He revealed that on July 22, he was forcibly taken to the psychiatric center, where he was administered the unknown substance with considerable violence and physical assault.

As a result of the injection, Saman Yasin was unconscious for 24 hours, and upon regaining consciousness, found himself restrained to a hospital bed with impaired vision persisting for two days.

"They should take me to the forensic doctor, to see what they did to me," Yasin urged in his statement to Hengaw.

Yasin asserted that he was in "perfect health" prior to his arrest. Holding those responsible for his predicament, he pointedly mentioned notorious Judge Abodlghasem Salavati and other officials.

In a compelling audio message from prison on July 21, Yasin had passionately maintained his innocence, vehemently asserting that he had not committed any crime.

The artist's initial death sentence by the Tehran Revolutionary Court was later challenged, leading to a retrial that the Supreme Court granted. However, the ordeal has persisted, with his fate remaining uncertain.

The letter, signed by Mohammad Taqi Najafzadeh, Director of the health and treatment network in Lahijan city to the heads of local hospitals, has ignited a significant reaction on social media platforms.

In the directive, Najafzadeh unequivocally states that medical centers and health workers must abide by the hijab regulations set forth by the authorities. The letter, however, leaves the crucial question unanswered regarding the medical service protocol in emergency situations, where immediate care may be required irrespective of the patient's observance of hijab.

The publication of this directive has garnered diverse reactions, with notable figures and netizens expressing their concerns. Abbas Abdi, a political activist closely associated with the reformist movement, held both the government and the Ministry of Health accountable for endorsing such a measure. In a tweet, he remarked, "That doctor, being a government administrator, and the ministry, endorsing such an anti-human violation, amid the government's silence, should be held accountable."

Drawing historical analogies, another user likened the directive to the "darkest days of church supremacy" during the Middle Ages when religious decrees were imposed on societal matters.

Critics on Twitter also viewed this directive as a breach of the “medical oath," emphasizing the importance of providing medical services without discrimination or coercion.

Saeed Maliki, a journalist, went a step further and compared the authorities' action to that of ISIS, drawing parallels between the enforcement of hijab observance and the tactics used by the extremist group to force people to abide by its strict interpretation of Sharia law.

It is important to note that this is not the first instance where the issue of observing the hijab has affected medical services in Iran. Following the Women, Life, Freedom protests and the advent of women's movements, reports have emerged of medical centers and hospitals postponing care unless hijab regulations are strictly adhered to.

Earlier this month, an Iranian female medical staff member was subjected to a series of punishments, including performing "cleaning services," for not complying with the mandatory hijab. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on July 14 that the judicial authority of the Islamic Republic sentenced her to a ban on employment and cleaning services due to her alleged failure to observe hijab while driving.

Amidst the challenges, a segment of the medical community sought to voice civil protests against these governmental pressures. In March, following an institution's order for compulsory black veiling for women in pharmacies, some pharmacist doctors and male technicians showed their anger by wearing black veils.

The Iranian government employs such punishments with the aim of suppressing opponents of the mandatory hijab. However, reports suggest that these punitive measures have not succeeded in quelling protests, and studies indicate an increase in the emigration of Iranian doctors and nurses in recent months.