Regime Mounts Pressure On Family Of Executed Protester

An informed source said that the government has notified gas stations to be ready for the implementation of the plan which will introduce a new ration at between 80 to 90 percent of gasoline spot prices in Persian Gulf countries, or at least 15 times higher than the current 3 US cents Iranians pay per liter.

Iran has the world’s second cheaper gasoline after Venezuela.

Such a sudden increase for gasoline, bought in addition to a 60-lter monthly ration, can cause unrest following the longest nationwide protests that shook the country in the closing months of 2022.

Iran International has also learned that security organizations have been preparing for possible protests and ready to confront any unrest.

Software required for the calculation of prices based on the use of digital ration cards have been updated at all gas stations and banks have taken the required measures for processing the payments during the past one year, he said. 

The sources also said a new plan introduced in Urumieh, capital of West Azarbaijan Province, is in preparation and a prelude to the implementation of the new measures. 

Ahmad Mojarad, managing director of the government-owned Oil Products Distribution Company of Urumieh, told the official news agency IRNA Sunday that digital gasoline rationing cards in Orumieh will be charged with 210 liters per month (60 liters at the subsidized rate of 15,000 rials and an extra 150 liters at 30,000). 

Therefore, anyone who needs to use more than 55.5 gallons a month has to pay a price close to international rates, while Iranians have been impoverished by a 70-percent annual inflation rate.

The government has not announced any new rationing plans yet but in March, just days after Iran International reported that national reserves were down to five-days’ supply, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, Ali-Akbar Nejad-Ali, urged people to reduce gasoline consumption.

The semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported then that the average consumption of gasoline between March 11 and 20 stood at 121.8 million liters, up by 13.9% in comparison to the same period the year before.

Gasoline was first rationed during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) when paper coupons were required for its purchase. 

In 2007, introduction of digital fuel ration cards by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad caused unrest in some cities including the capital Tehran where several gas stations were burned down by angry protesters. At this stage rationed subsidized gasoline was sold at 1,000 rials per liter and extra fuel cost 4,000. These prices were raised to 7,000 and 10,000 in 2014 by the administration of his successor, President Hassan Rouhani. 

In 2015, two years after the nuclear deal with world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), rationing and two-price plan were removed by the government which argued that these caused corruption and gasoline began to be sold at 10,000. 

When sanctions slapped on Iran in 2018 by the administration of the US President Donald Trump began to bite, rationing and the two-price system had to resume. This time, the subsidized rate rose to 15,000 rials for 60 liters per month and additional fuel was priced at 30,000. 

After months of rumors, the government abruptly announced the new plans on November 14, 2019. By the evening of the same day, protesters had taken to the streets in several cities including Ahvaz, Mashhad and Shiraz and one protester was killed in Sirjan. 

Protests which authorities very heavy-handedly suppressed, soon spread across the country, and lasted for almost a week. 

The government never released any figures on the death toll or announced the number of protesters arrested by security forces. Reuters at the time reported 1,500 deaths. 

In a report Friday, Dadban said the three young men – Milad Armoun, Mehdi Hosseini and Alireza Kafaei -- have been charged with Muhariba (pronounced moharebeh in Persian) for the killing of a 21-year-old Basiji militia member named Arman Aliverdi in Tehran’s Ekbatan neighborhood October 26 amid nationwide protests.

Muhariba is an Islamic-Arabic term that in the lexicon of the Iranian regime means bearing arms and “fighting God” or “waging war against God,” and carries the death penalty.

A video circulating on social media at the time showed Aliverdi bleeding from the face and head while a protester kicked him. He later died in hospital. Authorities claim protesters also stabbed him.

Defendants in the case have denied stabbing Aliverdi who the residents of Ekbatan say had been trying to infiltrate the protesters to identify their leaders.

A young woman, who identifies herself as Aidi and runs the neighborhood’s popular Twitter account, told Iran International that the case is still under investigation and the accused have not been sentenced yet.

According to Payam Dorfeshan who represents one of the defendants in the case, the accused were tortured to confess to Aliverdi’s killing and implicate each other, Dadban said.

It also reported three other defendants, Mehdi Hosseini, Hossein Nemati and another yet unnamed young man apparently arrested in Ahvaz recently, have been charged with “complicity in murder” and “propaganda against the regime”.

After the incident, security forces from various agencies carried out many raids in Ekbatan and arrested at least fifty young protesters. Fourteen of the detainees were eventually indicted but others were freed later for lack of any evidence of their involvement in Aliverdi’s killing.

Dadban quoted Dorfeshan as saying that security forces’ violent daytime and night raids in Ekbatan were meant to arrest defendants and other protesters and instill fear among the residents.

The west Tehran neighborhood was an epicenter of protests ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who was fatally injured in September 2022 while in police custody following her arrest for not wearing “proper” hijab.

“These raids have seriously affected the mental health of the residents, particularly children.There are reliable reports about sleep disturbance and nightmares among children after these raids. Their drawings also show violent scenes as a result of [witnessing] the raids,” he said.

During the heat of the protests, Basij militiamen and officers of various intelligence and security forces in plainclothes attacked chanting young people who marched in small groups around the blocks of apartments in Ekbatan.

Basijis and other security forces on several occasions shot at people’s windows indiscriminately, rampaged the entrance lobbies in several blocks, broke the windows, and destroyed the lobby furniture and intercoms to give the residents a lesson.

The ever-present Basij have four bases within the five square kilometer complex which has 15,500 apartments and a population of around 45,000.

Regime forces often used tear gas, shot pellets at protesters for chanting “Death to Khamenei” and “Down with the Dictator” every night, and made arrests both outside and inside the buildings.

Abolfazl Amir-Ataei died Saturday after enduring great suffering from a severe head injury amid protests in Shahr-e Ray south of Tehran during Iran’s “Woman Life Freedom” movement.

Informed sources told the Hegaw Human Rights Organization that Amir-Ataei was shot in close range by government forces, with a tear gas projectile striking him from a meter away, causing a critical injury and shattering his skull.

He underwent several major surgeries, and finally, on May 21, his mother published a video showing that he could move his fingers and react to his mother's words; however, in less than a week he passed away.

Abolfazl was taken to the hospital the same day after being hit, but some relatives of the teenager said government agents forced his family not to complain to any institution.

The young man’s mother, who endured the excruciating pain caused by Abolfazl’s injuries, posted an image of her son on Instagram, saying "my moon vanished, I wish demise of yours too".

During the protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September, hundreds of children and teenagers were killed, injured, and thousands imprisoned by the regime.

Human rights organizations identified at least 70 children and teenagers killed during the protests.

The underage protesters were killed by direct shots to their heart and head or being beaten by the regime forces.

As the number of children killed in the protests increased, "Death to the Child-killing Regime" turned into one of the main slogans in street rallies or chanted over rooftops.

In a statement on Saturday, the petitioning families called the recent wave of executions in Iran a revenge by the Islamic Republic on the people for anti-regime protests.

They also called on all activists and organizations defending human rights in the world to do their best to end the death penalty in Iran and save the lives of prisoners at risk.

“Suffering from the deep wounds of losing our loved ones, whether on the street or at the gallows, we cry out to stop the executions and killings of people. End all death sentences immediately. Executions for any reason and for any crime must be stopped. We don't let you kill our loved ones anymore,” read the statement.

The wave of executions carried out by the Islamic Republic in recent weeks has led to yet another global outcry against the Iranian regime.

After the execution of Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaqoubi and Saleh Mirhashmi, three protesters imprisoned in Isfahan (Esfahan) on May 19, people in different Iranian cities took to the streets and chanted slogans, burning symbols of the regime to express their determination to overthrow the clerical rulers.

Iranian expats in different countries also held protest rallies against the Islamic Republic on May 20, to slam the recent wave of executions in Iran which has taken the lives of 110 people in the past month.

Asadollah Assadi, a former attaché at the Iranian embassy in Austria who was convicted of plotting to bomb a gathering of the exiled opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) near Paris on June 30, 2018, was released and arrived in Tehran on Friday.

Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who was detained in 2022 and sentenced to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes for alleged “spying and cooperation with the United States, money laundering and smuggling $500,000 out of Iran,” was also released as part of the deal.

The Belgian Parliament ratified the controversial prisoner swap treaty with Iran on July 20, but a temporary ban on the extradition of the convicted diplomat was announced by the Brussels Court of Appeal late in July following numerous complaints.

The critics of the accord warned that such a treaty would effectively establish Belgium as a “sanctuary country” for terrorist operations, and a haven for Iranian intelligence services to maintain a European command center. In March, Belgium's Constitutional Court rejected a request to annul a prisoner exchange treaty with the Islamic Republic paving the ground for the release of the diplomat.

Iranians and human rights activists feel betrayed and disappointed that Belgium released Assadi after huge rallies and and dozens of officials warning against such an act. Following his release, Iranian expatriate communities held protests in several cities to denounce Belgium's move to free the regime's diplomat.

Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement that "By transferring Assadollah Assadi to Iran, the Belgium government has contributed to a climate of impunity for the extraterritorial targeting of Iranian dissidents for extrajudicial execution, torture, and other ill-treatment, and undermined the rights of victims to justice, reparations and guarantee non-recurrence of violations."

In an interview with Iran International on Friday evening, Darya Safai, an Iranian-born member of the Belgian Parliament, described the day as “a black and bitter day for impunity and injustice for Iran and the world.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran takes innocent people as hostages, blackmails, plans terror attacks on European soil, kills brave freedom fighters in Iran and yet the world continues to grovel and do as they demand,” she said, adding that “This regime will never stop capturing victims if it is rewarded in this way without a problem.”

According to the lawmaker, the Belgian government was supposed to inform the plaintiffs in Assadi's case before releasing him, but it did not do so.

Alireza Akhondi, an Iranian-born member of the Swedish parliament who has been very active in defending the ‘Women, Life, Liberty’ movement, also told Iran International that it is a shameful day in history.

He mentioned several names of the iconic martyrs of the uprising who have lost their lives in the path of Iran’s freedom, saying that such an event proves that the opposition should expand its efforts to make the world stand against this regime, which has been using the hostage-taking tactic for 44 years.

Reacting to the release of Assadi, exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi said that exchanging hostages for the regime’s terrorists “will not only fail to end the Islamic Republic’s hostage taking, but it will also encourage the regime to take further hostages and carry out further acts of terrorism.”

Pahlavi added that during his meetings with European lawmakers and politicians, he made it clear that the only solution lies in coordinated action from a position of strength. He called on world countries to “recall ambassadors from Tehran and expel the regime's ambassadors; Put the IRGC on the list of terrorist organizations; Help the people of Iran achieve the freedom and democracy that they deserve and are sacrificing for.”

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, an organization parallel to MEK and led by its leader Maryam Rajavi, which had mounted a fierce campaign against the deal, issued a statement following the prisoner swap, condemning it as a shameful appeasement with the Islamic Republic’s policy of hostage taking.

“The release of the terrorist, who organized and commanded the biggest criminal act in Europe after the Second World War, by violating the Court’s order, is a shameful ransom for terrorism and hostage-taking. This will embolden the religious fascism ruling Iran to continue its crimes in Iran through repression and regional and international terrorism,” read their statement.

The group added that “The release of this terrorist diplomat takes place while the Constitutional Court had clearly stated in its judgment that the Belgian government should inform the victims before transferring the convicts so that they have the opportunity to once again take the issue to court.”

The Islamic Republic has a long history of hostage diplomacy, which started soon after the establishment of the regime, with taking hostage American diplomats and embassy staff in 1979 for 444 days. UN experts and international human rights organizations say that the Islamic Republic takes foreigners hostage to extract concessions from the West.