Iranians Renew Rumpus Over Raisi Kremlin Reception

‘Witness 458’ told the unofficial tribunal in London, which is meeting behind closed doors and not open to most media, that as a member of Iran’s ‘Imam Ali’ anti-riot brigades he had seen the deployment of “violent criminals” as well as members of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, and the Afghan Fatimiyoun militia.

Speaking online with a covered face, witness 458 said Imam Ali brigades had set gas stations ablaze to blame the fires on the protesters and so justify suppression, and had been authorized to shoot protesters in the torso and head to end the unrest.

Witness 458 told the tribunal he had witnessed the killing of five protesters and that members of the Basij, the state-run paramilitary group, as young as 15 had helped deal with the protests, which followed a rise in rationed fuel prices from 7 cents to 10 cents a liter.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) consist mainly of Shia Muslims and played a leading role fighting the Islamic State group (Isis) in Iraq after 2014 in coordination with Iraqi Kurdish forces and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). The Fatemiyoun brigades (Liwa al-Fatimiyun) are an Afghan Shia militia funded and trained by the IRGC who have been fighting in Syria to keep Iran’s ally, Bashar al-Assad in power.

In another presentation to the tribunal, Ali Rezaei played a recording of a phone call, made he said on November 17 in Karaj, from a third party taking his brother Naser Rezaei to hospital. "He has been shot in the eye,” the speaker said. “He is unconscious.” The Rezaei family have said they do not believe they can get justice for Naser, who died, through the Iranian legal system.

Assembly and collusion

Amnesty International reported the killing of at least 304 protesters including at least 23 minors during the November 2019 protests – but its report made no reference to evidence of the involvement of Iraqi or Afghan militias. Reuters in December 2019 reported that around 1,500 civilians were killed by orders of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to suppress the protests.

Iran has not announced figures for deaths or arrests, nor tried anyone over killing protesters, but has prosecuted and passed heavy sentences including the death penalty on protesters on charges including “assembly and collusion.” Over 700 banks as well as gas stations and police stations were targets of violence.

Saturday was the resumption of the ‘Iran atrocities tribunal’ set up in November 2020 on the first anniversary of the protests by the London-based Justice for Iran, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), and the international anti-capital punishment organization Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (Together Against the Death Penalty).

The tribunal stated its aim as investigating “atrocities” and “human rights violations by Iran” during the protests. The tribunal has so far ‘indicted’ 160 Iranian officials, but its ‘verdicts’ will be symbolic. Iran has dismissed the tribunal, with media calling it a stunt and “puppet show” with findings decided in advance.

Raisi made the decision during a session of the Covid-19 taskforce on Saturday while 120 cities are now considered "red zones”.

Instead, he proposed that the definition of the red zones should be changed in a way that the number of 'red' cities decreases.

Raisi said the country should not go into lockdown as was the case during the previous waves and restrictions should be regional and local.

Etekaf (from the Arabic for ‘adhering to’) ceremonies, scheduled this year for February 15-18, during which large numbers pray in mosques throughout day and night, were cancelled in the cities deemed red zones.

The government hasn’t announced restrictions on the Fajr film and theater festivals, and its plans remain in force to re-open schools and to hold gatherings during the ten-day Fajr period that ends on the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution on February 11.

This would not the first time the Islamic Republic seems to prioritize official events over the health and safety of people. There were media allegations that authorities played down the threat from Covid in early 2020 so as not to deter voting in the February 2020 parliamentary elections.

Health authorities, who have said the country is in a sixth wave of the pandemic, expect infections to rise to “up to”

In a letter released by National Review on Friday, a group of lawmakers called for a clear strategy to counter the evolving capabilities of Iran’s long-range strikes and urged the administration to take measures against the threat.

The group, led by Representative Joe Wilson who is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee’s national-security taskforce, said the recent tests of a satellite-launch vehicle contributes to attempts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile whose range could “potentially put US allies in Europe as well as the US homeland in range.”

They expressed concerns over the recent missile launches by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen against the United Arab Emirates and the Iranian military launches of 16 ballistic missiles during military exercises in December and said these all overlapped with the talks to revive the nuclear deal in Vienna.

They said the Biden administration only condemns such launches “but concern and condemnations are insufficient. Action is needed”.

“The Trump administration routinely sanctioned these networks which supported Iran’s missile and military programs as well as those of its proxies, whereas your administration has been lagging in this area,” read the letter.

They demanded written answers in 30 days to questions about the capability of CENTCOM defense systems against the missile threat and the administration’s measures to enforce sanctions on sectors of Iran’s economy that support the ballistic missile program.

In an open letter signed the human rights groups on Friday asked the prime minister not to allow Canada to become a haven for Iranian officials who are known rights violators.

The move was in reaction to a short video of a retired commander of the Tehran's Police forces and the IRGC, Morteza Talaie, working out in a gym during a visit to Canada.

The video was shared on social media last week with a caption saying the former police chief has emigrated to Canada. It drew criticism from dozens of social media users, especially after Talaie released a video from Tehran, denying the report and saying it is nobody’s business where he travels.

Expressing serious concerns, the rights groups urged the Canadian government “to take immediate action to uphold its stated commitment to human rightsand ensure that impunity at home, does not mean impunity abroad”.

“Allowing Talaei to freely enter Canada sends a dangerous message; a message that is an affront to Iranians who have themselves sought refuge in Canada”.

Talaei orchestrated widespread crackdownson protestors, mass arrests, beatings, and torture of many dissidents, and is the founder of the so-called hijab police.

Our reporters in Israel have learned from reliable sources that the Israeli military is preparing a month-long exercise to gauge its readiness to fight Iranian forces and proxies on its borders with Syria and Lebanon.

Iran maintains its Revolutionary Guard Qods (Quds) forces in Syria as well as large contingents of Afghan and other militias who have fought for a decade under Iranian command to defend Bashar al-Assad’s rule. But since at least 2017, these forces have tried to position themselves at the border with Israel to open a front, similar to Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Israel has repeatedly warned in the past five years that it will not tolerate the entrenchment of Iranian forces in Syria, specially near its borders. It has launched hundreds of air raids against suspected Iranian targets, weapons depots, and arms shipments in Syria and from there to Lebanon.

Iran International has also learned that Israel is planning to hold the military drills in May to prepare for large-scale conflict and to confront possible attacks by Iranian forces in case of an Israeli strike against Tehran’s nuclear installations.

Israel has repeatedly said that the Vienna nuclear talks between Iran and the West do not provide the assurance it needs for preventing Tehran from pursuing a nuclear weapons option. It has said that it reserves the right to deal with the Iranian nuclear program through its own means, which would be a military strike to derail Iran’s uranium enrichment and other aspects of the nuclear program.

In case of such a strike, forces commanded by Iran would most probably retaliate against Israel from Syria and Lebanon. This would be a convenient option for Iran, instead of direct missile attacks against Israel that could expand the conflict into a full-fledged regional war, possible involving the United States.

Israeli officials and media have been discussing the real possibility of attacks from Syria and Lebanon in case of a strike against Iran. In such a scenario, Israelis have hinted at large-scale retaliation not only against aggressor forces but also at targets throughout Syria, including Syrian government assets.

Israel holds Assad’s government responsible for whatever takes place in territories under its control.

Although relations between Israel and the Biden Administration are as close as ties former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enjoyed with Donald Trump, but in recent weeks there have been signs of more military coordination and contacts.