Iran’s Judiciary Tries Damage Control Over Major Hacking Leak

Iran’s Mizan News Agency, which is affiliated with the Judiciary, said Wednesday that the four, who had been arrested back in June, have been “destroying private and public property and obtaining fake confessions.”

The Islamic Republic has long accused arch-enemy Israel of carrying out covert operations on its soil. However, it has not provided evidence to prove its claims against those who received the death penalty. Iran’s judiciary never holds such trials transparently and it is not clear if such trials have indeed been held.

Throughout the years, due process has not been implemented during political and security trials while the Islamic Republic often accuses Israel and the West of having spies in the country.

This time the identities of the accused have been announced, alleging that “with guidance from the Israeli intelligence service, this network of thugs” were committing crimes.

Israeli is believed to have been behind assassinations and acts of sabotage against Iran’s nuclear facilities, but no one was ever put on trial for these incidents.

On Wednesday, three other people were handed prison sentences of between five and 10 years for alleged crimes such as acting against national security and possessing illegal weapons.

International community and human rights organizations have repeatedly expressed concerns about Islamic Republic’s detentions, sham trials, and the death sentence for people.

At a meeting of foreign ministers of the defense alliance’s members in Bucharest on Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia has asked Iran to provide it with weapons because it was “running low on ammunitions.”

“We are saying very clearly that no country should support Russia’s illegal war, and therefore, Iran and no other country should provide Russia with missiles, drones or anything else that can help them to continue this brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,” added Stoltenberg.

He further noted that Iran and no other country should provide Russia with “missiles, drones or anything else that can help them to continue this brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Stoltenberg stated that Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine is failing in Ukraine.

Russia has been using Iranian drones in its air attacks against the Ukrainians. In October and November, it targeted Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure, plunging it into blackouts as the winter cold has begun across the country. Amid international outcry over the Islamic Republic’s supply of drones for the Russian invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a meeting of UN security council November 23, that the attacks are “an obvious crime against humanity” adding that Kyiv would put forward a resolution condemning “any forms of energy terror”.

The move has led to widespread objections as several activists and organizations have expressed deep concern.

A committee monitoring the situation of recent protest detainees said, “these children are not having their own defense teams and lawyers appointed by the judiciary are supposed to represent them.”

A law in Iran forbids those charged with political crimes to hire their own lawyers.

They are charged in the death of a Basij militia member during protests on November 3 in Karaj west of Tehran.

Mohsen Borhani, a lawyer, and professor at Tehran University, had earlier warned about the trial of several detained minors in revolutionary courts.

During the popular uprising in Iran, over 18,000 citizens have been arrested and some of them were accused of “corruption on earth” and “war against God” which may carry the death penalty.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International called on governments with embassies in Iran to send observers to ongoing trials where protesters are at risk of being sentenced to death.

Amnesty said in a tweet this includes a group trial starting November 30 of 11 people, before Branch 1 of Revolutionary Court in Alborz.

“Amnesty is also extremely concerned at reports indicating children are among those at risk of being sentenced to death in mass trials in connection with protests, which would be a flagrant violation of international law,” it added in a statement.

In a joint video statement released on Monday, Friday prayer Imams and religious scholars from Khash, Taftan, Mijaveh and their neighboring towns decried the regime’s appalling attacks against the people of Kurdish majority cities, the killings on September 30 dubbed as ‘Bloody Friday’ in Zahedan, and a brutal crackdown of Khash residents on November 4, among others. 

Protesting Islamic Republic’s violations of human rights and dignity, they said religious leaders, elders and intellectuals in the province with a unified voice condemn government’s violent reaction to protests across the country and show their “national solidarity.”

The clerics said the attacks against the people at the Grand Makki Mosque -- the largest Sunni mosque in Iran located in the center of Zahedan – and Al-Khalil Mosque in Khash, where security forces arrested many people, and similar incidents across the province are aimed at fomenting fear among the people to dissuade them from attending prayers at mosques. They denounced the strategy by the Islami Republic as “Mosquephobia,” apparently because the mosques are places where Sunni people gather to listen to their community leaders criticize the regime. 

The signatories of the statement also called for "the release of all political prisoners in Iran, who were arrested during the recent protests." Noting that peaceful protest is the people's right, they also urged the authorities to address issues regarding women's rights. “The voices of the Iranian people should be heard," they added. 

Emphasizing that the relentless ethnic and religious discrimination that has persisted over four decades of the Islamic Republic, the Sunni clerics expressed support for “the wise positions” of Mowlavi Abdolhamid as the serious and legitimate demands of the people. 

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Molavi Abdolhamid, officially known as Sheikh Abdolhamdid Esmailzehi, is the most prominent religious leader of Iran's largely Sunni Baluch population living in the province. Abdolhamid's popularity is largely because of his willingness to challenge the absolute authority of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Earlier in November, the outspoken Sunni Imam said women, ethnic and religious groups, and minorities have faced discrimination after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. He was also brave enough to blame Khamenei for the attack on protesters in his hometown, Zahedan, known as the Bloody Friday. It took place September 30, when security forces killed about 100 people, and injured hundreds. Earlier in the month, he called for an internationally monitored referendum, saying by killing and suppression the government cannot push back a nation. 

The statement by the Sunni clergymen came a day after an audio file was leaked by the hacktivist group Black Reward, revealing the Islamic Republic’s plan to tarnish Abdolhamid’s reputation. The audio tape from a meeting between a Revolutionary Guard general and a group of media managers or representatives from outfits affiliated with the IRGC, revealed that Khamenei demanded Mowlavi Abdolhamid be warned over his comments. Qasem Qoreyshi, the deputy commander of IRGC’s paramilitary Basij forces, also said in the meeting that “We made a mistake about Abdolhamid. We first eliminated tribal leaders in the region to give more credit to Abdolhamid. However, he didn’t carry much weight [in the past].”

In a similar joint video statement released earlier in the month, Sunni religious leaders and Friday prayer Imams in Iran’s Kordestan province also called for a referendum under the supervision of international bodies. The Sunni clerics of Sanandaj and Dehgolan called for a plebiscite with the presence of religious and national leaders, as well as neutral international observers to “get out of the current situation.”

Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani made the comments Tuesday in a meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as part of his visit to the Iranian capital.

The Iraqi official said, “It is the policy of the Iraqi government that this country should not be the starting point for actions harming the countries of the region.”

In the meeting, Ebrahim Raisi claimed the Islamic Republic supports a united and strong government in Iraq.

Raisi said relations between Tehran and Baghdad must be expanded to establish more peace and stability in the region and the world.

Since the eruption of nationwide protests in Iran, regime officials have accused Kurdish opposition groups in northern Iraq of fueling the unrest, with the IRGC repeatedly launching deadly attacks on the neighboring country’s northern territories.

The latest round of shelling of Iraqi Kurdistan region drew condemnation by Western countries as well as the Iraqi government.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein decried the attacks as a violation of Iraq's sovereignty and Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also condemned the “violations” of Iraq and its Kurdish region’s sovereignty.

The US also strongly condemned Iran’s “violations of Iraqi sovereignty”, calling on the Islamic Republic to stop attacking its neighbor.