US Strongly Condemns Iran's Escalating Use Of Death Penalty

In 2022 Hajipour’s song “Baray-e Azadi” (For Freedom), which he composed by taking lines from protesters’ social media posts, turned into an anthem and unofficial manifesto of Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom protests ignited by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini in the custody of ‘morality’ or ‘hijab police’.

The song reflected people’s concerns about class gap, social pressures, economic worries, and environmental problems.

The impactful song which was played nearly 40 million times during the protests won him a Grammy for “Best Song for Social Change”. Protesters in Iran and their supporters around the world called the award a triumph for the anti-government protests.

In his new song Hajipour alludes to his troubles with authorities who have several times, including recently, summoned him to court and implied that they want him to leave Iran, but his message in the song is clear, he will not go.

“I'm that trash who didn't have anyone to post bail for him, …

The one you got rid of one day,

Who is even not allowed to sing [in public] …

Leave, all of you, someday!

This trash will stay here to rebuild this city.

Do not ask me to leave this land.

Wherever I go, my heart will remain here,

I will keep my promise,

The son of Iran will not go back on his word.”

Hajipour was arrested in September 2022 and was released on bail in October, at the hight of anti-government protests that lasted several months. His lawyer, Majid Kaveh, said at the time that he had been charged with "propaganda against the regime" and "inciting people to violence".

Authorities allegedly subjected him to huge psychological pressures during and after his detention to post dictated content on social media and say he was sorry his song was being used by dissident political groups outside Iran. After winning the award he also said in a post he regretted that his award was presented, in absentia, by the US First Lady Jill Biden.

In his new Instagram post Friday which included his new song, Hajipour said he had no idea how long his “fear and uncertain circumstances” would continue.

“All I know is that I didn't care whose lungs the polluted air affected, or which political faction's supporters were empty-pocketed and poor, or who, leftist or right winger, would mourn the extinction of [Iranian cheetah] Pirouz when I wrote For [Freedom],” he wrote about what inspired him, adding that he knew, however, that “We, the ordinary people are victims of every kind of political extremism.”

“And I knew that protesting was necessary for growth and that it was not possible to solve problems without showing them. I knew that we ordinary people also have the right to be passionate about our country and think about its development,” he wrote. “But now, I think maybe I was wrong. Maybe they have a monopoly over the land, maybe the homeland does not belong to us ordinary people. Man is nothing without his homeland other than trash to be tossed.”

The Revolutionary Guard issued several communiques saying that the ballistic missile strikes were in retaliation to “recent crimes of terrorist groups in killing innocent compatriots in Kerman and Rask.” It also singled out Israel for killing the Guard's high-ranking officers and proxy forces in air strikes in Syria.

There are unconfirmed reports that some missiles landed near the US-led International Coalition Headquarters & the US consulate in Erbil.

No US facilities were impacted by the missiles strikes, two US officials told Reuters.

Deputy Speaker of Kurdistan's Parliament, Hemn Hawrami, said that "unjustified attacks in Erbil by the IRGC targeted a civilian house" belonging to Peshraw Dizayee, killing him and 4 members of his family. Dizayee was an business mogul and head of Falcon Investment Group. In the past Tehran has accused some Iraqi Kurds of collaborating with Israel.

The IRGC was referring to a twin-bombing on January 3 near the tomb of one of its top commanders, Qasem Soleimani, in Kerman where around 100 people were killed, on the fourth anniversary of his killing by a US strike in Baghdad.

The Afghanistan branch of ISIS took responsibility for the attack that came as a major embarrassment to Iranian security forces.

The IRGC announcement said that it fired ballistic missiles and eliminated “the commanders and main elements linked to the recent terrorist operation.” It did not explain why the retaliation was against ISIS in Syria and not in Afghanistan. Later, Al Mayadeen network, affiliated with the Iranian regime said that IRGC targeted training centers in Syria where Afghanistan ISIS forces were being trained.

In its earlier communique, the IRGC did not mention targets in Iraq, but specifically mentioned Syria. However, Iranian media and Iraqi officials said that targets in Erbil were hit.

In a later statement, however, the IRGC said it had targeted an Israeli "espionage center" in Erbil.

"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in response to recent aggressions by the Zionist regime resulting in the martyrdom of IRGC commanders and members of the Resistance Front...targeted and destroyed one of the main espionage centers of the Zionist regime (Mossad) in the Kurdistan region of Iraq using ballistic missiles. This center has been the hub for developing espionage operations and designing terrorist activities in the region, especially in our beloved country," the statement said.

Iran has been claiming for a long time that Israel has an “espionage center” in Erbil and fired missiles at a building there in March 2022.

Iranian officials blamed Israel and the United States after the terror attack and claimed that ISIS is a tool that carried out Israeli and US plans.

The Internet and Infrastructure Commission of the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association disclosed the alarming trend, attributing it to the recent deployment of filtering equipment within the domestic network and the government's plans to expand existing internet restrictions.

The country's internet situation has been evaluated based on disruption indicators, restrictions, and speed, placing Iran among the worst 50 nations surveyed for internet quality.

“Increasing online censorship in Iran has become a noticeable trend, with a daily surge in disruptions occurring between 5 PM and 11 PM.”

The association attributes the phenomenon to functional disruptions and processor saturation of filtering equipment.

Technical examinations conducted by the authors of the report reveal that Iranian officials, “due to a lack of knowledge, impose website censorship indiscriminately and at the IP level." Many websites remain on the filtering blacklist without a clear reason provided by the Islamic Republic, leading to their continued restriction.

Furthermore, the Electronic Commerce Association's examinations indicate that Iran's internet speed has slowed down approximately three times in the past five years, as observed in Google loading times.

Despite the presence of numerous decision-making bodies on internet censorship, the report emphasizes the significant role of the country's president in enhancing internet quality and holding others accountable. Under the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi, internet censorship has intensified, and the report notes a decline in Iran's international bandwidth consumption compared to the previous government.

It will penalize students punished for offences such as non-conformity with compulsory hijab laws and those supporting the 2022 uprising. Students from various universities play a significant role in the anti-regime movement, with university campuses witnessing extensive protests, sit-ins, and gatherings. 

The protests continued for several months, during which hundreds of students were violently detained or banned from entering. Government security forces attacked student dormitories at various universities multiple times.

Beheshti University asserted its right “to take action against students with such convictions, even after enrollment or during study breaks, in accordance with regulations.”

ISNA noted that “the decision is in line with the guidelines and regulations of the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, as well as the executive directive approved by the Council of Exceptional Talents at Beheshti University of Tehran.”

Reports of confrontations with students, expulsions, and disciplinary committee sessions have continued to surface since the beginning of the Iranian academic year. Some female students opposing compulsory hijab have faced rulings canceling residence in dormitories.

The United Students account on the X social network criticized the decision, terming it as "legitimizing illegal deprivation of education" and stating that such decisions are independently made by the university not the Exceptional Talents Organization.

The 10 pages of the document reviewed revealed the names of seven members of Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC-IO), who work as interrogators in major corruption cases that usually involve people with links to the regime. Each of these IRGC officials – the so-called ‘judicial enforcers’ -- has received money from several people charged with economic crimes.

The document exposes high-ranking officials, including Mohammad Mehdi Badi, IRGC-IO's deputy interrogator for economic crimes, who accepted huge sums of money. Only in one case, he received $400,000 and €60,000 from Rouhollah Danialzadeh, known as the “Sultan of Steel” in Iran because of his mafia-like network over the steel industry.

Danialzadeh was one of the key people indicted in the court case involving Akbar Tabari, the Iranian Judiciary’s former Executive Vice President and Finance Director for over two decades, who ran a bribery network. His network orchestrated a massive corruption and bribery scheme involving numerous officials, most of whom evaded accountability, as is often the case with individuals tied to the Islamic Republic. Danialzadeh’s verdict, including a 15-year prison term, was overturned several months after it was issued. It is not clear from the document if his conviction was overturned because of bribery.

According to Iran International’s Mojtaba Pourmohsen, IRGC's Badi also received tens of thousands of dollars from Esmaeil Khalilzadeh, the former chairman of the board of directors of Tehran’s Esteghlal Football Club and the owner of a large hotel in Iran’s northern Gilan province. He was arrested by the IRGC-IO in 2021 on charges of financial corruption in a big case about a silk factory.

The document also revealed that another business crime boss called Hadi Darvishvand, who owns Kermanshah Refinery in eastern Iran, gave the IRGC-IO's deputy interrogator for economic crimes $47,000, €48,000 and 150 gold coins.

Another senior IRGC-IO interrogator who received handsome bribes was Behnam Hajipour Khireh-Masjedi, who was one the interrogators in the case of Sina Estavi, the CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange company. Estavi’s case, involving over $20 million in embezzlement, has 51,000 complainants, mostly ordinary citizens who lost their money in Estavi’s cryptocurrency scam. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, 75 lashes, fines, asset forfeiture, and a travel ban. He escaped from Iran in November.

According to journalist Mohsen Sazegara, such cases are proof that the Islamic Republic’s measures to address economic corruption are "nothing but empty promises." He told Iran International that the IRGC-IO is the biggest intelligence service in Iran and is closely tied to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba, claiming that “It is also the most corrupt intelligence outfit of Iran.”

Major corruption cases in Iran involve regime insiders, officials and their business partners. If a case is exposed by rival factions, usually there is a lack of transparency involving legal proceedings. Some of the accused can avoid any consequences as a clear and full picture never emerges.