Iranian Sunni Religious Leader Subjected To Torture In Detention

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, described Riyadh's expressed interest in acquiring nuclear weapons as a "factual statement," but he deemed it unlikely for the country to pursue the path.

Lavrov's remarks were in reference to a statement made by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. In his interview with Fox News, the Saudi Crown Prince referring to Iran’s nuclear program stated, “If they get one, we have to get one, for security reasons and the balance of power in the Middle East.”

However, the Russian foreign minister said Moscow believes that "Iran will not have nuclear weapons, so Saudi Arabia won’t be tempted to obtain them."

Furthermore, Lavrov accused Western countries of escalating tensions in international conflicts and expressed the view that the West is making every effort to prevent the formation of a multipolar world.

There have been reports that Mohammed bin Salman has approached the Biden administration seeking assistance in establishing a civilian nuclear program for his country. Some US officials harbor concerns that such a program could potentially serve as a guise for developing nuclear weapons as a countermeasure against Iran.

The hacker group Ghiyam ta Sarnegouni (Uprising till Overthrow) which is affiliated to the People's Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MEK) made the announcement Saturday, the first day of the new academic year in Iran and said it had acquired access to over 20,000 documents. 

Some of the documents hackers have published on their Instagram and Telegram accounts are related to purging academics who are critical of the government or have supported the Women, Life, Freedom movement. 

The purge has opened the way for hiring 15,000 pro-regime professors and other staff in universities. Authorities also plan to adopt new student selection procedures and expelling thousands of students who have been part of the protest movement. They have even greenlighted the acceptance of Iraq’s Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militias and other proxies in Iranian universities.

The ministry’s public relations in a statement Saturday claimed “vigilant technical experts” had managed to repel the cyber-attack and shut down the ministry’s website temporarily to investigate the incident. 

In the past year, MEK-affiliated hackers have targeted the portals of several other government agencies including Tehran Municipality, the state broadcasting corporation (IRIB), the Presidential Office, and the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, and Islamic Guidance and published thousands of documents. 

A "very confidential” document published by hackers this time reveals the proceedings of a Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution meeting including demographic data about last year’s nationwide protests based on data from intelligence agencies, including the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Intelligence Organization (SAS). 

Dated October 5, 2022, approximately three weeks after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody sparked nationwide anti-government protests, the document emphasizes that 82 percent of detainees in the first two weeks of the protests were teenagers and young people under the age of thirty, with men comprising the majority at 88 percent of all detainees.

The document also states that authorities had no records related to 93 percent of detainees and that protesters promoted civil disobedience in places such as bazaars, metros and city buses. According to the same document, “hatred towards the Islamic Republic, hostility and civil disobedience” had been observed among protesters. 

In a classified letter to President Ebrahim Raisi that hackers claim to have accessed, Higher Education Minister Mohammad-Ali Zolfigol says some university chancellors were reluctant to cooperate with security bodies in suppressing the students and that some academic officials who had signed statements against such measures had been fired. 

Zolfigol said in the letter that Sharif University of Technology, one of the top universities in Iran, “had come completely under the control of rioters” and added that the National Security Council (NSC) and Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) officially demanded the chancellor of the university to be sacked. 

Sharif University required “fundamental changes” without which it could not be controlled if there was more unrest in the future, the minister said in his letter to the President. 

Students in at least 150 universities across Iran held protests during last year’s several-month-long unrest and in many cases were supported by their professors. Documents acquired by hackers from the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency in December indicated that at least 51% of the students at state universities had participated in Women, Life, Freedom protests. 

The recent purge of academia in Iranian universities dubbed as ‘the second cultural revolution’ has shaken many Iranians who are already grappling with various pressures. The purge comes amid loss of hope in improvement of the country’s circumstances, including its economy, relations with the international community and removal of sanctions, as well as even relative social and political freedoms.

The ministry claimed that the arrests prevented a plot involving "30 simultaneous terrorist bombings" in densely populated areas of Tehran, with the intended objective of “destabilizing national security.”

According to the ministry's statement, the detainees have a documented history of having spent time in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraqi Kurdistan, where they purportedly received training and support for their activities.

The arrests were reported to have taken place in recent days across various regions, including Tehran, Alborz, and West Azerbaijan provinces. However, specific details regarding the precise timing of the arrests have not been revealed.

The Iranian regime has a history of periodically claiming the apprehension of individuals linked to terrorism, espionage, or sabotage activities, often citing affiliations with entities such as Israeli intelligence agencies or ISIS. However, detailed information, public court appearances, or comprehensive trial updates pertaining to these detainees are notably rare. Consequently, verification of such claims remains challenging.

Furthermore, the ministry of intelligence highlighted that during a raid on one of the suspects' safehouses, an attempted "suicide operation" was thwarted, resulting in injuries to two members of the ministry's personnel.

The ministry has not released any photographs or official documents to substantiate its claims regarding the arrests and the thwarted plot.

The announcement follows the Iranian government's attribution of two previous armed attacks to ISIS—one in October 2022 and another in August—both of which targeted the Shah Cheragh Shrine in Shiraz.

Ali Asghar Shalbafian, the Deputy for Tourism at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, said tourism is a priority in the plan, and in the first phase, a list of "approved" travel agencies will be provided with uncensored internet.

All international messaging apps and social media platforms, as well as tens of thousands of websites are blocked in Iran and users must deploy VPNs to circumvent the restrictions.

Shalbafian also emphasized that under the plan, unfiltered SIM cards will be provided to foreign tourists visiting Iran. In addition to tourists, hotel staff and tour guides will also have such SIM cards.

The news of providing unrestricted SIM cards to foreign tourists was first published in late February by the government. Strong reactions to the news led the government to delete the tweet a few hours after its publication.

Following that, Issa Zarepour, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, explained that foreign tourists were facing difficulties due to the blocking of platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp.

Ezzatollah Zarghami, the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, also emphasized that providing free access to the internet for foreigners is a “necessity.”

With the approval and implementation of the plan, it seems that the Iranian authorities are taking another significant step toward tiered internet access.

Although it's not the first time that certain individuals in the country have had access to the internet without restrictions, the clear distinction between Iranian citizens and non-Iranians is a matter that some have described as digital segregation.

Currently, employees of government ministries, members of parliament, university professors, and members of some associations and guilds, including specific groups, are among those who benefit from tiered and uncensored internet access in Iran.

The old document, the 6th Development Plan, was to be implemented between 2016 and 2021, but many parts of it have remained untouched as the government lacked the appropriate resources due to a catalogue of foreign policy and economic problems. 

The latest extension of the old plan gives the Iranian government time to catch up with what it has not been able to accomplish during the past seven years. Experts, however, say it is unlikely that the administration, known for its inefficiency,would be able to improve its performance in the next two years. They say the old plan might even be extended for another two years when the Majles reviews the government's performance in about six months from now. 

According to former presidential candidate Mostafa Hashemitaba, in the meantime, the government has either to amend the 7th Development Plan, which is by no means acceptable to the parliament, or to come up with new plan to present to the Majles.

According to Hashemitaba, only 20 to 25 percent of the 6th plan has been implemented during the past seven years. He added in an article in the reformist Shargh daily that the 7th plan is simply a "booklet put together by the government" and that "it has nothing to do with the country's future and its people's livelihood. Hashemi Taba further charged that it makes no difference for the officials which direction the country's economy will take as a result of not having a real development plan in hand. 

He said those who have drafted the plan either do not know anything about the country's situation or pretend not to know about pressing issues. "When the priorities are forgotten, what comes next is destruction," Hashemitaba said, adding that "what the officials are doing is giving a coat of paint to a building on the verge of collapse." 

Meanwhile, reformist commentator Abbas Abdi wrote in a commentary in the reformist Etemad newspaper that Iran's economy heavily relies on state subsidies and the government cannot implement any practical policy as long as it cannot liberalize the prices of bread, fuel and energy because it fears the re-emergence of protests that have taken place in Iran since 2018.

Abdi wrote the government is constantly manipulating the prices of these three items and continues to allocate subsidies to them sometimes selling what it buys at a higher price to the people at a lower subsidized price. However, he pointed out that current rise in the price of bread in Iran cannot be defended, as it puts more pressure on the lower strata of the population. The government's only solution is to rebuild the people's trust in the government and that is difficult.

Hashemitaba also pointed out in his article that the Iranian government has stated at various points that it needs to make tough decisions, meaning to increase the prices of essential commodities, but every time, it took backs down and manipulates the markets without cutting the subsidies. 

In another development, Iranian journalist, women's rights activist, and reformist politician Zahra Nejad-Bahram wrote in Etemad newspaper, criticizing the government for treating development plans as perfunctory documents and instead, handling affairs of state on a day to day basis. 

She pointed out that the 6th Development Plan is too outdated, it has already been extended twice, and another extension of it will be beneficial. She questioned how an outdated plan could meet the country's future needs. Nejad-Bahram maintained: "Perhaps the officials believe Iran does not need a new development plan!"