Amnesty International Calls For Accountability In Iran Crisis

The hacking group targeted Ali Khamenei’s website on Thursday a few hours after it said it hacked more than 300 street surveillance cameras.

While the government has cut internet access in the country, the group is also trying to raise awareness about the ways Iranian protesters can keep using the net to make their voices heard in the world, mainly through Tor, short for The Onion Router, a free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication. 

The group started its cyber operations against the Islamic Republic in solidarity with the ongoing protests across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini who died following repeated blows to the head reportedly by hijab enforcement patrols. 

If Iran government blocks the people from accessing the internet, Anonymous will block the government from accessing the internet, the group said.

During the past few days, the group hacked the website of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also claims that it obtained the database of Iran’s Forensic Research Center.

On Tuesday and Wednesday some state-owned websites, including the website of the Central Bank of Iran, were also targeted by group. A member of the group posted a message to the Iranians on Twitter on Tuesday, saying, "We are here with you. The operations against Iran began. wait for us."

Central Bank spokesman Mostafa Ghamarivafa denied that the bank itself was hacked, saying only that the website was “inaccessible” because of an attack on a server that hosts it. 

At least two main websites of the Iranian government and some state-affiliated media sites as well as the state broadcaster IRIB were among the targets, some of whom were back online after a few hours. One of the websites of the government hosts “smart services” and another is dedicated to publishing government news and interviews with officials.

A video was also released early on Wednesday showing footage of protests in several Iranian cities that have erupted since Mahsa Amini died in custody of the hijab enforcement patrols. “This was the last straw,” an altered voice on the video said of Amini’s death. “The Iranian people are not alone”.

Following large anti-government protests in Tehran and Mahsa Amini’s hometown as well as a couple of other cities in the Kurdistan province, demonstrations expanded Tuesday to many Iranian cities and towns, with several people killed, hundreds arrested, and thousands injured.

Since protests over the death of Amini started, the government significantly slowed down the internet connection speed, a strategy it usually uses during protests in Iran to hamper communication and sharing of images and news by protesters.

Authorities disrupt the Internet to prevent news of unrest reaching the rest of the country and abroad, and to prevent protesters from galvanizing support in nearby regions.

The government usually does not use the traditional Army against protesters as it relies on forces controlled by the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and intelligence organizations to crush dissent.

Many Iranians have called on the army in the past to side with the people not to allow these forces to attack civilians.

One human rights group said Wednesday that there was a brief exchange of fire between the army and the IRGC in the Kurdish town of Saqqez.

Karimi, nicknamed ‘Asian Maradona’ retired in 2013. He is well-known for his many charitable activities including helping build schools in poverty-stricken areas and helping earthquake victims.

During a World Cup final with South Korea in 2010, several Iranian players, including Karimi, wore green wristbands as a show of support for Iranian opposition leader Hossein Mousavi, who accused the Iranian government of vote rigging in the 2009 presidential election.

He has also openly supported families of those who were victims of government violence during protests anti-government protests or otherwise.

The IRGC-linked Fars news agency has sharply criticized him and called him “the new leader of the opposition” for his support for the current protests.

Fierce protests began last week when a 22-year-old woman received fatal head injuries during her detention by the notorious Islamic hijab police. More than 80 cities and many towns have been gripped by unrest since then.

The new missile, dubbed Rezvan, was put on display during a nationwide military parade to mark what the Islamic Republic calls the Sacred Defense Week, which marks the start of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war. Forces from the Iranian Army, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Police, Border Guards, and paramilitary Basij are participating in the parades.

According to Iranian media, Rezvan is a liquid-fueled single-stage missile with a detachable warhead that has a range of up to 1,400 kilometers, and can be launched from a variety of fixed and mobile platforms.

During the parade, Kheybar-Shekan missile system -- developed by the Aerospace Division of the Revolutionary Guard -- was also put on display that has a range of 1,450 kilometers and Iran boasts about its high agility and pinpoint accuracy. It uses solid propellants and is said to be capable of penetrating into missile shields with high maneuverability during its landing stage.

During the ceremonies, Iran's most senior military commander reiterated Tehran’s position against any change in the historical and geopolitical borders of the region, referring to the escalation of decades-old hostilities between neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff for the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, said, “We will not tolerate changes in the borders of the countries of the region, and we advise the countries of Azerbaijan and Armenia to solve their problems through dialogue,” noting that “Iran will not accept the change of borders with war and will not stay silent."

The death toll began to rise with around ten confirmed civilian casualties, although military force has not been used nationwide as was the case in the bloody protests of November 2019.

Some believe the authorities were caught off guard and are preparing a fierce crackdown. But with the geographic spread of the protests and the determination seen on the part of a new generation of protesters, the use of military force can be extremely costly in human lives.

In large cities such as the capital Tehran, protests are no longer held just in the central areas, but they have mushroomed in multiple districts and suburbs. This would inevitably make a military response harder, but the regime also has its local forces in the form of Basij paramilitary, commanded by the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

Some of these local “thugs” as the people see them, have already tried to intervene in the protests by mixing up with the crowds and then grabbing a key figure from among the protesters and shoving him or her toward the police or anti-riot forces who then arrest the person.

There are multiple videos showing people attacking these elements once they are identified and beating them up. Protesters are also much more brazen than in past rounds of unrest, by advancing toward security forces with rocks and sticks and in many instances forcing them to retreat.

This creates a situation where only direct gunfire can stop protesters, who appear to be a mirror of society, with women having a major presence and even older people pitching in and helping the younger, front-line protesters.

The Islamic Republic has proven time and again that it would use military weapons against protesters. In November 2019, at least 1,500 unarmed people were killed in less than a week. Whether this time it would be willing to shed so much blood, is not clear yet.

Popular anger and frustration have increased since 2019 because of more social restrictions and unprecedented economic hardship triggered by United States’ sanctions. The killing of a 22-year-old woman in custody last week was all it took for pent-up anti-regime sentiments to boil over and lead to perhaps one of the biggest opposition challenges the clerical regime has ever faced.

Speaking of clerics, people on social media point out that they are nowhere to be seen, staying put at home to avoid angry protesters. Attacks and public insults against clerics in the streets had already increased even before the protests.

Some believe that the regime has held back on using military force because President Ebrahim Raisi is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and they do not want a public relations fiasco during his trip. He already carries the baggage of a human rights violator, having been a member of a death commission in 1988 that ordered the killing of up to 5,000 political prisoners serving their sentences.

It is also predictable that if the Islamic Republic resorts to military weapons and kills hundreds or thousands of people, it can damage chances of a nuclear deal with the United States, or at least make it harder for Tehran to try to get more concessions. Washington might also impose more sanctions for human rights violations in such a case.

Meanwhile, some Iranian lawmakers continue to spread disinformation about the death in custody of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, and her health condition before her arrest, to clear the hijab police of responsibility.

A group of about 13 hardliner lawmakers who advocated a harsher reaction to the protests might be seen as irrelevant in this juncture of widespread unrest, or these remarks might inflame the situation.

Esmail Zarei Kousha, the governor general of Kurdistan Province, who has also suggested that the government should take harsh measures against the leaders of the protests, has said at the same time in an interview with Hamshahri Online that lawmakers should avoid making unnecessary remarks.

Kousha has called the grandeur and momentum of this round of protests unprecedented and called on the people to dissuade their children from taking part in the protests.

In another development, Aftab News reported that the 13 lawmakers have suggested to the government to take harsher measures against those they claimed have been turning protests to the death of the hijab victim into “riots”.

However, according to Rouiydad24 news website, Iranian lawmakers are divided into at least four groups on how to react to the protests that have so far rocked over 80 cities in Iran as well as scores of smaller towns nearly all over the country.

However, all of these four groups have tried to reduce the root cause of the nationwide protests to dissatisfaction about hijab patrols, while the people in the streets are in a revolutionary mood against the who;e regime.

Roiuydad24 wrote that at least seven lawmakers are absolutely against the activities of the hijab patrol, at least 10 still support the hijab police despite its harsh treatment of young women including Mahsa Amini, while 8 lawmakers including Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf have taken ambiguous positions about the matter to stay on the safe side. Oddly enough, only seven of Iran's 290 lawmakers, including 4 hardliners and 3 reformists, have expressed sympathy with the family of the hijab victim. On the other hand, all of the 10 lawmakers who still support the hijab patrols, including former nuclear chief Fereidoun Abbasi, are the members of the ultraconservative Paydari Party.

Iranian social media users have been keen to lash out at politicians who ignore or belittle the protests.

Nearly all Twitter users who commented on a tweet by Tourism Minister Ezzatollah Zarghamiharshly criticized him for saying that law enforcers should act in a calculated way and crack down on "protest leaders who are linked to foreigners and have been trained to instigate riots." The comment was completely in line with the approach of security forces who attribute the protests to foreign elements particularly since 2017. Several Twitter users have responded that trained elements who instigate terror and riots during rallies are the members of Iran's security and intelligence organizations.

As news came in Wednesday afternoon that Instagram, as the only social media platform that was not officially banned in Iran, has been blocked, social media users warned that this could be sign that the regime is about to start its usual violent crackdown on the protests. Earlier on Wednesday, Communication Minister Isa Zarepour had said that new restrictions are likely to be imposed to limit Internet access as a way of confronting with the protests.