Iran International Awarded the 2024 Geneva Summit Courage Award

Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Seminaries said on Tuesday, “If educated and thoughtful women address issues such as the status of women's rights in Western societies and the flaws that exist in this area in the West, the enemy will not even have a chance to challenge us,” said Bushehri.

His statement comes at a time when Iran faces international scrutiny over its treatment of women, following the widespread protests ignited by the Women, Life, Freedom movement since 2022.

The movement began after powerful images of Iranian women rejecting the mandatory hijab went viral, symbolizing broader opposition against Iran’s authoritarian regime, which imposes strict religious codes affecting both the social and private lives of its citizens, especially women, who remain excluded from various facets of society such as football stadiums and are subject to strict Islamic dress codes from childhood.

Despite the regime’s harsh crackdown, which includes public beatings, rapes, and executions of protesters, defiance remains strong.

In response, Iranian authorities have escalated their enforcement of the mandatory hijab, instituting the Noor plan last month, which has seen an increased presence of hijab police, especially in central Tehran, violently cracking down on hijab defiance.

The United Nations has labeled Iran's actions as "gender apartheid," and international rights groups continue to advocate for the oppressed women in Iran, who are battling against the stringent laws.

Iran’s Me Too movement has documented systematic state-sanctioned sexual violence against women and girls.

After establishing total control over the parliament by banning hundreds of other candidates, Iran’s hardliners are now engaged in fierce infighting, in what some observers call rivalry over power, money and influence.

Some argue that the infighting will not yield any clear winner, while others believe Iran's embattled ‘reform’ camp might benefit from the fierce competition among ultraconservatives, who still call themselves revolutionaries 45 years after Iran's largely forgotten 1979 revolution.

Meanwhile, the nation at large appeared indifferent to the entire affair, with various sources reporting a turnout of only 4 to 8 percent in the runoff election. The public nearly ignored the election and sees little significance in the infighting among the ultraconservatives poised to take over the inefficient parliament in less than a month.

Mohammad Javad Jamali Nobandegani, a conservative politician says there will be no winners in the infighting. He describes the ongoing conflict as a struggle between the younger members of the ultraconservative Paydari (Steadfastness) party and even younger "revolutionaries" who secured their seats in parliament through a campaign led by young conservative regime propagandist Ali Akbar Raefipour.

Both Paydari members and the supporters of Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf have accused Raefipour of financial corruption and leading social media trolls to attack his political rivals, mainly on X.

Raefipour, on the other hand, has accused his political rivals of unethical campaigning against him. While Raefipour claims that nine of the candidates on his list have won the runoff election, others argue that none of the individuals won solely because of his support. The nine candidates were also promoted by Paydari Party.

Nobandegani told Nameh News that all radical politicians over the past 45 years have deviated from the orthodox Islamic revolution. He accused radical politicians of having very little, if any, political awareness and charged that young ultraconservatives know no boundaries in their mudslinging against political rivals.

He described the ultraconservatives' behavior as undemocratic and warned all sides that tarnishing their rivals' image will not boost their own reputation. On the contrary, it will deepen public disappointment and further lower voter turnout in the next elections. Both sides will be destroyed, he reiterated.

Nameh News warned in a commentary that reformist politicians are likely to ride the waves of discord among conservatives and become popular with the public.

The website noted that it is interesting how all sides, including Ghalibaf's camp, Paydari, and Raefipour with his young revolutionaries, claim to be pioneering a new brand of conservatism in Iran. However, what the public sees is their infighting and the corruption allegations they hurl at each other.

This, the website argued, will erode public trust in all politicians. The only potential winners might be the reformists, who can portray themselves as moderates among radicals.

Meanwhile, a moderate conservative commentator Mehdi Arab Sadeq has suggested that behind the scenes of the fierce infighting within the conservative camp, the Paydari Party appears to be trying to highlight the government's failures and further its own political agenda to take over the Majles and the government.

The Tehran University academic noted that while the new lawmakers are predominantly conservative, it is still too early to determine who holds the upper hand in parliament. Amid the initial chaos, Paydari members, many of whom have previously served in the Majles, are capitalizing on the new MPs' lack of experience to assert control over the parliament.

However, he added that Paydari's inherent weaknesses will become apparent in the coming months if their primary strategy is to fan the flames of discord and infighting. Despite these weaknesses, they may still manage to wrest control from President Raisi and advance their own political agenda.

In an interview with the Shargh newspaper, Isa Zarepour remarked, "The same logic prevails even in countries that claim to uphold freedom of speech. Accepting a country's laws means abiding by them; otherwise, it's natural for restrictions to be enforced."

Zarepour claimed that Instagram played a “significant” role in amplifying the "riots" of 2022, referring to the widespread public protests which Iranian authorities consistently label as such. The protests were in response to the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody for allegedly defying hijab regulations, sparking the Woman Life Freedom movement.

He further stressed the necessity of regulating platforms that "do not adhere to their own rules and jeopardize national security."

Additionally, he defended his crackdown of internet usage during the 2022 uprisings, calling it one of the "good events" of his tenure, despite widespread reports of internet blackouts and the shutdown of SMS services during the anti-government protests.

The government's actions included cutting off access to major social media platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp and cracking down to social media criticism of the government with thousands already arrested for charges including threatening state security.

Zarepour called allegations of intentional disruptions by the Ministry of Communications unfounded.

According to the Freedom on the Net 2023 report by Freedom House, Iran ranks sixty-eighth out of seventy countries in internet freedom.

Since the 2022 uprising, not only have dissident voices been targeted but millions of Iranians have been plunged further into poverty as the platforms they relied on for e-commerce, especially small businesses in rural areas, have been cut off.

The contaminated oil was reportedly part of a shipment bought by Iran’s state purchasing agency from Turkey and Argentina in August 2021.

The Government Trading Corporation of Iran (GCT) had purchased an overall shipment of 91,000 tons of cooking oil, which reportedly was poisoned with agricultural toxins and pesticides, according to Soltani's report.

The report, based on documents allegedly obtained from official laboratories, suggests that the shipment was tested by Iranian state laboratories four times. All results reportedly indicated that "the oils cannot be cleared for consumption" due to residue factors of agricultural toxins.

The oils were said to include chemical insecticides such as malathion, deltamethrin, piperonyl butoxide, and pirimiphos-methyl.

Consumption of chemical insecticides can pose health risks to humans. Short-term exposure to high levels of pirimiphos-methyl can cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, headache, dizziness, and difficulty breathing. Long-term exposure may lead to more serious health effects, including neurological damage, reproductive issues, and an increased risk of certain cancers.

Over a year after the shipment was purchased, in September 2022, a technical committee considered the sampling results "inconclusive" and voted to release the cargo of two out of three ships, which contained half the total.

In his report, Soltani noted that 47,000 tons of expired and contaminated cooking oil had entered the Iranian market. As of now, 44,000 tons remain unreleased at Bandar Abbas port in Hormozgan province, located in southern Iran.

Officials denied and replied to the allegations, but Soltani released a further update with additional evidence days later.

In a statement last Tuesday, the GCT, mentioned in Soltani's report as the importer of this shipment, denied that the oil was tainted.

"No product can be sold without the permission of Iran’s Food and Drug Organization (IFDA) and the Iran National Standards Organization (INSO). Without approval from these organizations, a product will not qualify for distribution and consumption," the statement read.

Bandar Abbas's prosecutor also objected, stating to Iranian media that "The released oils had permission from IFDA, but the 44,000-ton cargo of contaminated oil is not cleared and is still kept in the port."

Another official, the Chief Justice of Hormozgan, echoed the denials by saying a "shipment of 44,000 tons of oil worth 70 million euros" was seized, and "the seller offered to take it back."

The IFDA also denied authorizing any contaminated products last week.

The investigative journalist, known for uncovering corruption among Islamic Republic officials, reacted to the denials on Thursday and emphasized the role of IFDA as the main culprit.

The IFDA, operating as part of the Iranian government’s Health Ministry, falls under the purview of current President Ebrahim Raisi.

Soltani criticized officials for focusing solely on the unreleased cargoes and demanded an explanation for why half of them had already entered the market.

“The IFDA’s head should take responsibility for the situation more than anyone else,” Soltani wrote on his website.

He presented further documents that demonstrated that in the IFDA system, the shipments are still labeled "waiting for permit."

“How can these products enter the market without IFDA authorization?...The main issue remains. In all four tests, several agricultural toxins were found in these products and declared not suitable for human consumption. But suddenly, the IFDA decided to import half into the Iranian market.”

Soltani was sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 for investigating corruption in municipal real-estate sales in Tehran. In 2019, he was released on bail after being charged with "spreading lies" and "gathering classified information with the intent to harm national security."

The whistleblower also exposed the reported financial corruption by a prominent cleric appointed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as Tehran's Friday Imam in March.

His comments, implying a lack of monitoring in prisons where drug use prevails, come as human rights group report that the prison system in Iran is highly controlled and violence, rape, and torture by the Islamic Republic agents prevail.

Iran Wire claimed in 2020 that cheap, mass-produced narcotics are distributed among prisoners. Activists such as Leila Hosseinzadeh, who has since been released, said that systematic drugging of prisoners is also rife. After a fight between two prisoners, she said "a pill was placed into the mouth of one of them so that they could not speak for a few days.”

Moreover, the latest claims come against the backdrop of execution as punishment for drug-related crimes in Iran’s judiciary system, a practice that analysts say is political in nature.

According to Iran Human Rights Organization Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, drug-related executions are "aimed at instilling fear and preventing more protests" and have been carried out "without any political cost or consequences."

Amnesty International reported in April that Iran executed at least 853 people in the last year, marking the highest number in eight years. Drug-related offenses accounted for more than half of these executions.

In April, more than 80 human rights organizations called on the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to demand from Iran that drug-related executions cease as a condition of its cooperation.

Prisoners who have been charged with drug offenses in Iran are sentenced to death for “torture-tainted confessions, without due process and fair trial rights and often without access to a lawyer,” according to their statement.

According to Amiry-Moghaddam, UNODC has kept silent about the rise in drug-related executions in the country while it has partnered with Tehran to combat drug trafficking.