Iranian Archeologists Slam Plans To Legalize Trading Ancient Artefacts

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Opinion - On May 12, 2020, the Iranians of Berlin, like other compatriots in various cities in the United States and Europe, intend to take part in a demonstration against the presence of Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, professor of Islam and peace studies at the Oberlin College. Mahallati is the former ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, representing the Iranian government during the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988. While at the UN, Mahallati called the massacre a lie and "political propaganda against the Islamic Republic." In addition, his statements against the Baháʼí Faith and Baha'is of Iranat the United Nations in the early 1980s and his relentless defense of the Islamic Republic's anti-Israel doctrine and policies, its support for Hamas, and its encouragement of students to propagate the BDS campaign (The Boycott, Divestment, Sanction of Israel) further highlight the specific role of this key player of the Iranian government.

Despite the protests of the victims' families and disapproval of the Iranians about the presence of a justifier of a massacre, who had a specific governmental responsibility during the bloodbath of 1988, the University of Oberlin and its president refuse to offer any specific response and even ignore the request to meet the families of the victims of the 1988 Massacre.

It is very disappointing that the authorities of Oberlin College, a role model of culture and art in the United States, support the agent of an anti-cultural Islamic regime that suppresses and executes dissident Iranian artists, writers, and scientists or forces them into exile. Also, Mahallati was representing a regime that has repeatedly held Holocaust cartoon festivals in denial of this historic crime against humanity, and the university administration must condemn these acts.

When the case of Mahallati was brought to attention by the "Justice for Mahallati Victims" campaign in the United States, and the freedom-loving Iranians protested his employment at Oberlin, this story attracted the attention of the Iranian community on the Internet. Some have called the university too liberal, and some called it too conservative.

Oberlin College is one of the oldest universities in the United States and has a unique history. The university was founded in 1833 in Oberlin, Ohio. In 1835, the university officially changed its policy, enrolling a black man as a student for the first time in the United States. The university also awarded a woman a bachelor's degree in 1841, which was unprecedented. From the outset, the University of Oberlin shifted its political stance toward the abolition of slavery and opposition to other racist laws.

The policies of the Oberlin College have always been a point of contention between liberals and conservatives in the United States for more than 170 years. After the election of former US President Donald Trump, the controversy over the socio-political aspects of this college escalated significantly. During Trump's presidency, the far-right media practically portrayed the college as a producer of " Social Justice Warrior", a hint to the university's radical liberal views, and on the other hand, students with leftist and sometimes extremist views challenged the ideas and actions of conservatives with their social activities in the urban space.

This confrontation between the two groups and perspectives, especially in the tense period of the presidency of Donald Trump, given the position of Ohio State and its importance as one of the determining states in the presidential election, intensified to the extent that the Oberlin College became the center of events and this even caused problems in the city. The Gibson Bakery incident, in which a black student fought with the white son of the owner, made headlines in local, state, and even national media. The white son of the owner of the Gibson Bakery chased a black student for stealing two bottles of wine, and the court's case escalated to the point where the social supporters of both sides practically used it for electoral and political purposes.

In addition to the contentious issues between the two campaigns, such as racism, the arrival of immigrants in general, and Latin American immigrants in particular, Islamophobia is one of the issues on which the two sides have always had a dispute over it. To intimidate voters and advance their aims, extremist right-wingers in the United States use the issue of immigrants, especially crimes committed by ISIS or the Iranian clerical rulers, to sensitize society to a danger that is not so real in American society (in comparison with Europe). On the other hand, left-wing radicals go so far that they even downplay the Islamist's crimes in Iran and in the Middle East.

The Islamic Republic's lobby in Washington has always taken advantage of the conflict between these two political poles to whitewash the faces of criminals such as Mahallati, Hossein Mousavian, and Khamenei's fundamentalist representative, Mohammad Ali Elahi, the head of the Iranian Regime's Islamic mosque in Chicago.

The history of NIAC, which is recognized by Iranians living in the United States as the lobby of the Islamic Republic, confirms this tactic of the regime. NIAC's use of left-wing, anti-war groups such as the Code Pink is one example of these tactics. The Iranian government's lobby in the United States has even taken many activists of these left-wing and anti-war groups to Iran by launching travel tours and even publishing their books.

Now, regarding these points, it is noticeable that most Iranians living in the United States, whose main enemy is the Islamic Republic, are inclined toward the right and, sometimes regardless of the consequences of actions and statements by rightist groups, take their side.

Therefore, liberal figures and activists who have a particularly influential position in the management of prestigious universities, seeing the right-wing supporters in Iranian campaigns, are no longer even willing to listen and examine the explanations of the opponents of the Islamic Republic. With their reactionary and one-sided approach, they ignore credible evidence of crimes committed by Iranian government agents who have penetrated their educational institutions. This negligence of universities' liberal officials is pushing Iranians, who have only the support of the far-right media, further to the right, and this vicious circle practically leads to the ineffectiveness of the activities and campaigns of the freedom-loving Iranians. The main winner, of course, is the Islamic Republic and to some extent, the far right, which, takes advantage of sympathies among Iranians to show that liberals don’t care about human rights violation in Iran.

Therefore, in the gathering which takes place in Berlin on May 12, 2022, we will ask highlight the request of the family members of the victims of the 1988 massacre to meet with the President of the Oberlin College, Mrs. Carmen Twillie Ambar.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily the views of Iran International

Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced the detention of two European nationals on Wednesday without providing any details about their nationality or how and when they were arrested.

Kohler is the head of the National Federation of Education, Culture and Vocational Training – known by their French abbreviation FNEC FP-FO – that is a trade union representing education and related staff in France.

According to information received by Iran International, Kohler and her husband, who is also a member of the FNEC FP-FO, traveled to Iran as tourists and not on behalf of the organization.

They arrived in Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport on April 29 and stayed in Tehran for two days, and then went to Kashan and Esfahan. The couple were returning to Paris on May 8 when they were arrested.

Their trip to Iran coincided with intensification of Iran’s crackdown on teachers’ protests and union activists over their latest round of widespread rallies which were held on May 1, the international Labor Day.

Considering the activities of the FNEC FP-FO, the couple fits the bill for the scenarios Islamic Republic uses as pretext to arrest foreign nationals.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry alleged in its statement on Wednesday that the two met with members of the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, which has been the organizer of several rounds of nationwide protests since last year. 

Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the IRGC, reported the attack on Wednesday, saying no details are available so far about possible fatalities and damages in the strike.

According to local Kurdistan officials, the artillery attack hit Barbazin heights, while four suicide drones also targeted Similan heights this morning.

In March, Iran fired missiles at Erbil. No one was killed but missiles did damage to some residential buildings. Iran claimed it used 12 ballistic missiles in that attack and targeted an Israeli intelligence center. At the time it was seen as a response to an Israeli airstrike in Syria that had killed two IRGC officers or to an suspected Israeli attack in February on a drone base at an airfield in western Iran.

The attacks on Erbil have taken place at a time when Tehran is demanding the removal of the iRGC from a US list of terrorist organizations amid stalled nuclear talks.

An exclusive Reuters Report said days later that the purpose of the missile strike might have been meant to derail a gas pipeline project to pump Kurdish gas to Turkey and Europe. A claim that was denied by Nour News, which is close to the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Shamkhani.

The public relations office of the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the two Europeans, who had entered the country with the aim of provoking public outrage through changing the direction of normal popular demands into chaos, social disorder and destabilization of society, were identified and arrested by the intelligence forces.

The statement by the ministry did not provide any details about their nationality or how and when they were arrested, but apparently, they came from the same country.

It added that the two main elements of the mission -- organized by intelligence agencies -- were experts in the field of riot and instability and have experience in training their local agents in several countries over the years.

The statement also mentioned the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations as one of the circles with whom the two had held meetings. The council has been the organizer of several rounds of nationwide protests since last year, prompting speculations that the announcement can be a measure to link teachers’ protests to foreign intelligence agencies to justify the heavy-handed crackdown.

The timing of the announcement also suggests that it can also be an attempt to exert pressure on European countries over the case of a former officials who is facing a court verduct in Sweden.

On Tuesday, a Belgian court also dismissed appeals by three accomplices of an Iranian diplomat who was convicted of plotting to bomb an opposition rally in France in 2018.

Amir Saadouni (41), Nasimeh Naami (37), and Mehrdad Arefani (58) were arrested in Brussels in June 2018 for involvement in a bombing plot masterminded by Asadollah Assadi (50), the third secretary of the Iranian embassy in Austria.

Saadouni and Naami, a Belgian couple of Iranian origin, were carrying 500 grams of the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and a detonator in a toiletry bag in their car at the time of their arrest.

The bomb was intended to be used at a gathering of members and supporters of the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) in Villepinte near Paris on June 30, 2018.

Arefani, a former supporter of the MEK, was arrested simultaneously at Villepinte, France.

The three have accepted their involvement in the plot but claim they were coerced by Assadi, their handler, and the Iranian intelligence to participate in it. Assadi has always maintained that he did not know the other three defendants.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh late Tuesday condemned media coverage of the court's decision as an "orchestrated attempt" against Assadi and condemned his arrest and trial as a violation of diplomatic immunity.

The Antwerp appeals court has upheld Naami and Arefani's sentence of 18 and 17 years in prison but increased Saadouni’s sentence from 15 to 18 years. “The court finds the allegation by Saadouni and Naami that they assumed that the explosives would only cause noise and fireworks to be implausible,” the judgment handed down on Tuesday said according to De Morgen, a Dutch Flemish newspaper.

“Everything was meticulously prepared beforehand and the modus operandi to be used was also discussed in detail,” the court said while declaring that there is no doubt that Assadi and the three others worked for the Iranian intelligence ministry.

Assadi, the mastermind of the operation, was arrested in Bavaria, Germany, where he did not enjoy diplomatic immunity, while he was on holiday. German authorities later extradited Assadi to Belgium. He has not appealed his twenty-year sentence.

He is the first Iranian diplomat ever brought to trial in Europe for direct involvement in terrorism. The MEK in a statement in July 2020 alleged that Assadi was a senior official of the Iranian intelligence ministry and the station chief in Austria.

In October 2020 the Belgian Police released the minutes of a meeting with Assadi that indicated he had threatened that an unfavorable verdict in his case could entail possible retaliation by unidentified groups.

Iranian officials say there are no plans to trade EU citizens held in Iran including Ahmadreza Djlali (Jalali), a Swedish-Iranian doctor that Iran says it will execute soon on charges of spying for Israel, with Iranians held in EU countries such as Assadi in Belgium or Hamid Nouri in Sweden. Swedish prosecutors have requested life imprisonment for Nouri over his alleged role in a wave of prison executions in 1988.

The trials of the four suspects and the allegation that Iranian intelligence was behind the bombing plot continues to strain Iran's relations with European countries. Tehran has always dismissed the allegations against its diplomat and in July 2018 summoned the French and Belgian ambassadors and Germany's chargé d'affaires in protest to his arrest.

Tehran accuses European countries of sheltering the MEK which it has for decades persecuted as a terrorist group. MEK which carried out many terrorist attacks of its own in Iran, particularly in the 1980s, was designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department in 1997 but was delisted in 2012 when it renounced violence.