Iran Denies Responsibility For Iranian-American Inmate Death

Jamileh Alamolhoda, wife of Ebrahim Raisi, spoke to some of the world’s top media, including ABC and Newsweek as the pair embarked on a prolific propaganda effort.

To Newsweek, Alamolhoda, the daughter of a hardline cleric, spoke of the alleged “women’s rights” enjoyed by Iranian women, who for the last year have been protesting the oppressive conditions of living under the regime under the Women, Life, Freedom movement. Thousands remain in Iranian jails for protesting while hijab rebels remain locked out of public places including transport and education.

Alamolhoda -- who firmly believes a woman’s place is as a mother and wife — claimed Western feminism has no place in Iran where she says women are the center of life and society. Meanwhile, women are on the streets burning the hijab and morality police continue to punish them for not complying with mandatory hijab rules. Just last week, new laws to introduce harsher punishments for these women were passed in parliament as the battle against the rebellion continues to flounder.

On ABC, she continued to reiterate the regime’s lies that the tragic fate of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, whose death in morality police custody for the ‘inappropriate’ wearing of her hijab sparked protests in which more than 500 civilians were murdered by the security forces, was due to pre-existing illnesses, in spite ample evidence showing she died of blows to the head.

It has sparked a huge backlash across the globe. Activist in exile, Nazanin Boniadi, wrote on X of her disgust at the airtime given to the First Lady when anyone living in Iran speaking out against the regime is silenced, including hundreds of people such as journalists and academics now in prison for their dissenting views.

“Islamic Republic officials crush dissent at home and use Western media and democratic institutions to legitimize themselves, spew their propaganda and whitewash their crimes. Appalling. We should instead give airtime to those who are risking their lives for freedom and are stuck between a homeland that is trying to destroy them and an international community that platforms and negotiates with their oppressors,” she wrote.

US-based Sarah Raviani also called on the world’s media to stop giving a platform to the Raisis whose attendance at the United Nations General Assembly came on the back of a prisoner swap deal releasing five American-Iranian hostages in Iran in exchange for regime agents in the US, and the freeing up $6bn of frozen Iranian funds in South Korea, to be managed by Qatar.

In a powerful open letter to American media and journalists, Raviani wrote on X that media has “become a conduit for the regime's agenda” while hundreds of voices inside and outside of Iran are begging to be heard.

“I hear from the families of the fallen freedom fighters, crying out for the international community to take notice of them as their homes and lives are destroyed by regime security forces. I hear from the families of American hostages abandoned in Iran, begging the media to take notice of their loved ones dire situation. How do you think they feel as you prop up those who are responsible for the death and suppression of their family members?”

UK-based activist and academic, Kasra Aarabi, called the latest propaganda mission a bid “to demoralize Iranians abroad to stop us from mobilizing”. Writing on X, he said, “This won’t work, it’ll only make us more determined”, slamming the decision of ABC to allow the First Lady airtime. “Very sad to see @ThisWeekABC fall into the regime’s propaganda trap.”

The President himself also made the most of the world watching, suggesting some high level orchestration happening behind the scenes, though no PR organization has so far been revealed for its part in the drama.

Not only did Raisi use the UNGA stage to air his views on the Saudi betrayal of the Palestinian people should the nation normalize ties with Israel, and deny his obstruction to International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, he spoke to CNN and denied the country’s nuclear ambitions.

Earlier this year, the UN nuclear watchdog claimed that Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity, close to weapons grade, continues to grow. Just this month, the regime also banned one third of the IAEA’s inspectors. Speaking to CNN, Raisi claimed that “Iran has cooperated fully with the IAEA”, denying the reports announced by Director General Raphael Grossi who made a rare public criticism of the regime for its latest stonewalling.

In his latest bizarre claims, in spite of years of pursuing a potentially dangerous nuclear program and stockpiling highly enriched uranium, he even said, “we have stated many times that nuclear weapons have no place in Iran's defense doctrine, because we neither need them nor believe in nuclear weapons”.

Turning to Islam to defend his claims, he added, “In our opinion and based on the fatwa of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, nuclear weapons are among the weapons of mass destruction, and therefore both their production and storage are forbidden, and we adhere to this fatwa. This approach obligates us from a jurisprudential and Islamic point of view not to pursue the production of nuclear weapons in any way, and so far no reason has been found that the Islamic Republic of Iran has acted against this belief”.

Jason Brodsky, United Against A Nuclear Iran, said Raisi's administration is clearly trying to “normalize him in the West”. Writing on X, he said, “I hope @ThisWeekABC invites someone on the show who is actually representative of the people of #Iran and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement to respond to Jamileh after this interview.”

Activist Abbas Vahedian Shahroodi released an audio file in which he explains that the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet are suffering from extreme peeling, and he is forced to constantly remove excess skin with a nail clipper.

The condition is currently so dire that due to the skin's peeling, he is suffering constant bleeding but facing medical neglect he is suffering, and his condition remains undiagnosed.

Vahedian, a teacher and writer, is one of 14 civil and political activists inside Iran who, on June 11, 2019, published an open letter demanding the resignation of Iran's ruler Ali Khamenei and fundamental changes to the constitution.

Vahedian, who was also detained and sentenced in 2018 for his civil and political activities, was tried in the Mashhad Revolutionary Court after the publication of the letter. He has been sentenced to a total of 21 years of imprisonment on charges such as "acting against national security" and "collaboration with opposition groups."

Iran’s judiciary says individuals with medical problems cannot be detained. However, this comes in the wake of numerous reports indicating that Iranian authorities have deliberately denied medical care to political prisoners, leading to fatalities and suffering, including Faramarz Javidzad, an Iranian-American citizen, who died in the notorious Evin Prison on Saturday as his physical health deteriorated due to a lack of medical attention.

Alireza Hosseini Khoms, a young man born in 1997, was one of more than 500 people killed by security forces in the protests that turned into an uprising in September 2022 and lasted for months.

According to a source close to the family, gunfire from security agents killed Khoms. One of the bullets struck his left thigh, while the other found its mark in the neck near his throat. The circumstances surrounding his transfer to the hospital remain unclear; however, following his admission, regime agents reportedly contacted his family to convey the news of his death.

Hosseini, an employee of Erfan Niayesh Hospital located in Tehran, resided with his parents near the capital Tehran. The incident took place on September 21, when Alireza became the target of two bullets fired by government agents.

Regime's security forces told the family that Alireza's body would be returned to them only if they agreed to hold a quiet burial. Consequently, two days later, Alireza was laid to rest in the Behesht-e Fatemeh Cemetery in Eslamshahr.

Alireza's official death certificate, dated October 4 and registered with the Civil Registry Organization, attributed the cause of death to a "collision with hard or sharp objects."

Furthermore, a report from the criminal investigation unit, a copy of which has been obtained by Iran International, describes the scene as follows: "The body was discovered within a mortuary, displaying signs of gunshot wounds on the left thigh and near the throat."

Despite compelling evidence and several eyewitnesses, the Hosseini family's efforts to seek justice from military and judicial authorities in Tehran Province have been in vain, with the only response being, "We did not kill him; do not come back."

The Fraser Institute, in its latest Economic Freedom of the World report, measured the extent to which a country's policies and institutions support economic freedom, with data from 2021 serving as the basis for the 2023 assessment.

With a paltry score of 4.53 out of 10, Iran shares the lowly position with Libya, outpacing only Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela in terms of economic liberties. The other low-ranking countries all countries all have “brotherly” ties with the Islamic Republic. 

Before the establishment of the Islamic regime, Iran stood at the 32nd position or the second quartile of all states at the time. The country leaped 10 steps from 42 in 1970 to 32 in 1975. Right after the 1979 revolution, Iran's ranking plummeted to the 89th place in 1980.

The number one spot is now occupied by Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, Switzerland, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, Denmark, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

The Fraser Institute's annual assessment of economic freedom is measured in five broad areas: size of the government, legal system and property rights, sound monetary policy, freedom to trade internationally, and regulations. The research organization says the cornerstones of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to enter markets and compete, and security of the person and privately-owned property, all of whom lagging behind the international standards. 

The size of the Iranian government has been a central concern for the regime in recent years, leading to the launch of various initiatives under the banner of "building organizational agility" within state bodies. Unfortunately, these plans have failed to produce tangible results, primarily because the workers who should be laid off or redundant offices that should be removed are connected to influential figures within the regime. 

As government spending, taxation, and the size of government-controlled enterprises continue to grow, government decision-making takes precedence over individual choice, resulting in a reduction in economic freedom. Yet, this factor achieved Iran's highest score among the five categories, with a rating of 6.59 out of 10, placing Iran at 79th in this area.

In terms of the legal system and property rights, which measure protection of persons and their property, Iran scored 3.26. “If property is not secure, if individuals are not safe, if the judiciary is not impartial, or if the rule of law is undermined, then, again, economic freedom is reduced,” the Fraser institute says. 

Iran’s monetary policy received a score of 5.90 in the category of Sound Money, essential for safeguarding property rights. The report highlights that when inflation is not only high but also volatile, individuals find it challenging to plan for the future, hindering the effective use of economic freedom. Approximately a year ago, Iran's rial was trading at around 300,000 to the dollar, but in early May, it dropped to as low as 550,000. Currently, it stands above 490,000. This drastic devaluation of the rial illustrates the severity of inflation in Iran. In July, a lawmaker stated that the annual inflation rate was 120 percent, contrary to the 60 or 70 percent figures cited by various politicians and academics. According to World Bank figures from June, Iran's food inflation rate stood at 78 percent.

Iran received its lowest score in the Freedom for International Trade category, with a rating of 2.39, the lowest among the 165 countries assessed by the Fraser Institute. The institute emphasizes that the essence of economic freedom lies in the freedom to exchange, which is hindered when government barriers to trade make it costly or even impossible to engage in commerce with businesses and individuals in other nations. Due to US sanctions, only a limited number of countries are willing to establish trade ties with Iran, risking retaliation from Washington and further isolating Iran.

On Friday night, after several days of declining health, Javidzad was transferred to the prison clinic. However, after a medical examination, he was returned to his cell, as prison authorities prevented his transfer to a hospital, as reported by IranWire.

It remains unclear what he was convicted of, and whether the United States raised his case during recent negotiations for a prisoner exchange with Iran.

On Saturday, despite his blood pressure reaching a critical level, prison authorities continued to prevent his transfer to a hospital.

The 60-year-old had reportedly lived in the United States for two decades before returning to Iran a few years ago.

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, a significant number of prisoners have lost their lives due to a lack of access to proper medical care.