Violence Against Women ‘Systematic’ In Islamic Republic, Activists Say

Despite initial containment efforts, the situation escalated on Monday morning due to strong gusts of warm wind, rekindling the flames.

Reports indicate that since Friday morning, three locations in the Mazandaran province, specifically in the cities of Tonekabon, Noshahr, and Savadkouh, have been impacted by the wildfires.

Meteorological forecasts warn of continued warm wind gusts and rising temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday, heightening the likelihood of fresh outbreaks in other parts of the Mazandaran forests in the coming days.

Mehrdad Khazaipoul, the Director General of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Mazandaran in Noshahr, identified the "negligence of illegal hunters and excavators in extinguishing the fire" as the primary cause of the wildfire.

Esmaeil Sadeghi Niyarki, the Chief Justice of Gilan province, reported on Monday about wildfires in the forests of the neighboring province. The fire, which started on Saturday afternoon in the protected forests of Shaft, has now spread across 11 counties, covering an extensive area of 53 hectares.

This isn't the first time the Hyrcanian forests have experienced such devastation. In December 2022, a wildfire engulfed 40 hectares of the ancient forests, emphasizing the persistent threat to the natural heritage.

The Hyrcanian forests, with a history dating back 40 million years, are among the world's most valuable. Designated as the second natural heritage of Iran on the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2019, the forests house 90 species of trees.

Experts emphasize that the lack of modern firefighting equipment in the country's forests exacerbates the situation. Traditional tools like shovels, pickaxes, and fire beaters are often employed for firefighting efforts.

Citing the alliance between Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas, Stoltenberg expressed deep concern regarding recent drone attacks targeting ships, US forces, and assaults on commercial vessels in the region. He stressed the critical importance of Iran preventing the conflict from escalating into a full-scale regional war.

It comes on the back of the war in Gaza which began on October 7 when Hamas invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 mostly civilians and taking 240 or more hostage in the most deadly single day since the Holocaust.

In a press conference on Monday, Stoltenberg supported extending the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas, emphasizing the necessity of getting aid into the besieged strip and supporting the release of additional hostages. On Monday night, two more days were agreed by both sides.

Proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq have all been activated since the war broke out. Beyond missile and drone attacks, recent weeks have also witnessed Houthi rebels in Yemen attempting attacks on Israeli ships.

Over 60 attacks on US facilities in Syria and Iraq have also taken place since the war as Iran's shadow war steps up its pace.

On Sunday, Houthi rebels, supported by the Islamic Republic, made a seizure attempt on the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Central Park, managed by Zodiac Maritime, in the Gulf of Aden. The Yemeni government, recognized by the United Nations, accused the Houthis of orchestrating the hijacking.

The US military's Central Command released a statement on Monday, confirming that its forces, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Mason, responded promptly to the tanker seizure. The statement highlighted that missiles launched by the Houthis landed approximately 10 nautical miles from the ships, resulting in no reported damage or injuries during the incident.

Former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaie issued a warning on Monday, stating, "If Israel initiates war, there will be no obstacle or excuse left for the free people of the world to seek harsh revenge."

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized over the weekend that when the truce ends, Israel will “return with full force to achieve our goals: the elimination of Hamas," the only reason there is a pause in fighting to secure the release of the hostages.

The current round of fighting in Gaza is the worst since Hamas took control of the strip in 2007, and began on October 7 when Iran-backed Hamas militia invaded Israel, murdering at least 1,200 mainly civilians and taking at least 240 more hostage.

Iranian officials have consistently supported Hamas since the October 7 terror attack and its proxies have stepped up activities from Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria.

Mediator Qatar said on Monday a truce between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza had been extended by two days, continuing a pause in seven weeks of warfare.

The total number of hostages released by the militant group since Friday is 58, including foreigners. In return, Israel freed 39 teenage Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, bringing the total number of Palestinians released under the truce to 117.Under the terms of the current deal, Hamas is due to release in total 50 Israeli women and children held hostage in Gaza. There is no limit in the deal on the number of foreigners it can release.

An Israeli government spokesperson said the total number of hostages still held in Gaza on Monday was 184, including 14 foreigners and 80 Israelis with dual nationality.

In spite of the horrific conditions of Iran's prisons, Fars news agency, a mouthpiece of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and hardliners, ran a report saying that Mohammadi’s interview with Jolie has “busted the lies about the poor conditions of political prisoners." 

The mere fact that the phone conversation took place has raised questions as to how Mohammadi is allowed what alleged special privileges when so many suffer abhorrent conditions including torture such as amputation and stoning, as documented by Amnesty International, and denial of legal counsel inside Iran's jails. Human Rights Watch has also documented the widespread abuses and primitive conditions endured in Iran's jails. 

One of the notable people who raised the issue was Yasmine Pahlavi, the wife of the exiled prince of Iran who has become a leading opposition figure during the Women, Life, Freedom protests – ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022. In an online post, she said, "How can a political prisoner obtain permission to speak with Angelina Jolie but is unable to get permission to talk to their own son? This is a challenging puzzle for many of us."

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She referred to an interview with Mohammadi’s son Ali and husband Taghi Rahmani, in which they say Mohammadi has not spoken to her son for nearly two years. Following the rebuke, Rahmani – himself a frequently jailed activist who fled Iran in 2012 – explained that his wife is only allowed to call a limited number of people from the prison and their children are not on the list. He claimed that they sought to arrange for his son to talk to Mohammadi via a third party, but the intermediary was threatened by the authorities to be removed from the list of permitted individuals. 

According to the accounts of former prisoners, Mohammadi – and other prisoners – can make a phone call from the prison’s landline to one of the people allowed by prison authorities. Their confidants then can make a phone call to whomever they want by another device. With both phones on speakers, they can then talk to each other. It was apparently the case with the interview with Angelina Jolie, who according to her article published by Time last week talked to Mohammadi for a brief time before the call was disconnected, forcing her to finish the interview with written questions. 

However, critics argue that if such a method is possible, how come Mohammadi did not apply it to talk to her children. Another point raised by the critics is how Mohammadi’s actions do not lead to any consequences similar to other prisoners. Earlier in the month, Mahvash Sabet, a former member of the Baha’i community’s leadership group wrote a letter from Tehran’s Evin Prison, bemoaning the persecution of the minority groups by the Islamic Republic. Iran International learned earlier this week that Sabet has since been banned from contacting her family because of her letter under the orders of the Intelligence Ministry. 

Criticizing the jailed activist, Mojtaba Vahedi, a former reformist politician who has become a dissident foreign-based journalist, said, "Here in America, when an American sees Narges Mohammadi's interview with Angelina Jolie, they conclude that we are lying about problems of Iran’s prisons.”

On the other hand, supporters of Mohammadi are of the opinion that activists in Iran, especially the jailed ones, should take every opportunity to make the voices of dissent heard to the international community.

Mohammadi was arrested on November 16, 2021, and one year after being released, was detained again. Currently, she is serving a total sentence of 9 years and 8 months, along with 154 lashes and additional penalties in Evin Prison. Charges include spreading propaganda against the state. Mohammadi has been imprisoned several times over the past two decades for her work fighting for human rights. She is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a non-governmental organization led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Immediately after she won the Nobel Prize, she became the target of a barrage of criticism by ultra-hardline media in Iran.

The controversy is proof that the Islamic Republic effectively employs tactics to create discord among its opposition. Iran arrests activists vocally critical of its conduct and sentences them on trumped up charges. Subsequently, it selectively eases restrictions on some, allowing them to communicate with the world or granting them furloughs. Observing this discriminatory behavior, Iranians become suspicious about why they were singled out as the pawns of the Islamic Republic’s propaganda. In the end, the imprisoned activists either become less outspoken, serving the Islamic Republic’s agenda, or more publicly visible, only helping the regime further promote its propaganda campaign. 

The Commander of the Border Guards in Khorasan Razavi province, Majid Shojai, stated on Monday that “within the past 10 days, the individuals, present in the country illegally, were identified and handed over to the Afghan government's representative at the zero point of the Dogharoun region.”

Khorasan Razavi province, sharing a 531-kilometer border with Turkmenistan to the north and northeast and a 302-kilometer border with Afghanistan to the east, has been a focal point for border control.

Simultaneously, a member of parliament, Abolfazl Aboutorabi, proposed measures to penalize those renting houses or providing employment to “unauthorized foreign nationals”. According to Aboutorabi, both Iranian landlords and employers who engage unauthorized foreign nationals will face legal consequences.

Critics claim that amidst the country's economic crisis, focus should be on supporting Iranian citizens before refugees and immigrants. 

Hassan Ramazani, another parliamentarian, recently claimed, based on statements from Iran's Minister of Labor, that approximately five million jobs are currently held by foreign nationals, particularly Afghan residents in Iran. The assertion comes at a time when official statistics from the Statistical Center of Iran indicate the loss of nearly 900,000 jobs in the country since 2018.

Accusations of Afghan refugees contributing to unemployment in Iran coincide with reports of significant foreign investments by Afghan migrants and traders. The Iranian Foreign Investment Association's statistics reveal that in the first half of this year alone, the country attracted $2 billion in foreign investments, with Afghan migrants ranking first in terms of the number of investments.