Iranian Police Arrest 'Young Boy With Feminine Appearance'

The bipartisan Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming majority in September 2023, but has not yet been moved forward for a vote in the Senate.

In December, Iranian-American activists said the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) was refusing to advance the motion. According to the Committee's website, the markup session will be held on Tuesday, April 16.

The MAHSA Act – which has 68 Republican and 60 Democrat cosponsors – and is supported by the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), was first introduced by Representatives Jim Banks (R-IN) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) during the 117th Congress in January 2023, about four months into pro-democracy and anti-regime protests following the death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's hijab police. Her death sparked country-wide protests, better known as the Women Life Freedom movement, which challenged the regime and its religious authority like never before.

Essentially similar and a companion to the one passed in the House committee, the MAHSA Act will potentially commit the administration to report to Congress in 90 days after the date of the enactment and periodically thereafter, making determinations about whether certain existing sanctions apply to specified persons and impose the applicable sanctions.

The bipartisan bicameral move requires the executive branch to impose applicable sanctions on Ali Khamenei, his office and his appointees, along with President Ebrahim Raisi and his cabinet officials, as well as foundations and other entities affiliated with the Supreme Leader.

The body of the 20-year-old woman was found in her father’s house in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday.

According to the report, Tabrizi was subjected in the last weeks of her life to severe psychological pressure by the security agents of the Iranian government and was summoned to Iran’s infamous Ministry of Intelligence just one day before her death.

On November 16, Tabrizi was detained by security forces at Tehran’s International Airport, along with another citizen, while on her way to England. She was sent to Ward 29 of the Evin prison, belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence. After around ten days of interrogation, she was released on a bail of 10 billion rials ($20,000).

According to the information received by Iran International, Tabrizi was forced to spend the first three days of her detention in solitary confinement, a challenging period for her which led to severe anxiety, high blood pressure and high heart rate. She was later transferred to a three-person cell in Evin Prison.

“Sara was threatened by the interrogators that if she fails to cooperate with them, she will be sent back to solitary confinement and that the private content of her cell phone would be made public so that it would reach her family,” a source close to Tabrizi’s family revealed to Iran International.

Tabrizi was once again summoned and detained on January 8, this time released on a bail of 20 billion rials ($40,000).

Subsequently tried by notorious Judge Iman Afshari in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, she was sentenced to suspended imprisonment over such charges as “insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and using fake documents and someone else’s passport.”

In an official report submitted to Tabrizi’s family in the presence of security agents, Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization announced “taking pills” as the cause of her death.

Referring to people dying suspiciously in prisons or shortly after release, the Iranian regime often claims they have committed suicide, though it is now widely disregarded as propaganda.

“Her family found no empty pill box near her corpse. They do not know whether she committed suicide, had a stroke or was killed by the agents themselves,” the source told Iran International.

Last week, Alireza Khari, another former political prisoner, committed suicide under continuous psychological pressure and torture, even after release from prison. He was arrested during the nationwide uprising triggered by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

Judiciary officials who have always refused to allow international investigations into Iranian prisons, claim conditions at these facilities are suitable. The experience of many prisoners, however, proves that prisons and detention centers run by security forces have become “killing grounds” for prisoners, especially dissidents.

In the past month alone, several political prisoners attempted or committed suicide. These include Mosayeb Yeganeh who was returned to Tehran’s Evin prison from hospital before the completion of his treatment. Shahin Gallehdari, a Kurdish political prisoner was another victim who died at the ultra-security ward of the Central Prison of Orumieh in northwestern Iran, and Hasan Omarpour, another Kurdish prisoner self-immolated at the same prison.

Speaking to Rouydad 24, Bayadi said: “With this combination of selected hardliners and sometimes shameless people, it's just the same parliament, and perhaps even worse than the previous parliament.”

Highlighting the record low public participation in the March elections, with a significant volume of invalid votes, he added: "In each period, we witness a decrease in participation compared to the previous one, but we see them congratulating each other for minimal public participation".

Bayadi also expressed concern over the influence of powerful networks supporting such actors, suggesting that “this poses a significant threat to the integrity of the electoral system and the democratic principles it upholds.”

The March 11 polls recorded a historic low turnout of just 41 percent according to the government, though figures are likely to be far lower than official statistics, closer to 10 percent.

Low turnout has been a matter of concern for Iranian authorities in the wake of the 2022 uprising, reflecting the dire lack of trust felt by the Iranian public in the state mechanisms. 

Many Iranians, especially among the younger generation, feel disillusioned with the political system. They perceive that their votes may not bring about significant change or that the candidates do not represent their interests adequately.

The Guardian Council, a body of clerics and jurists, vets candidates for elected offices in Iran. This vetting process disqualifies many potential candidates, leading to a perception of limited choice.

Economic challenges, including high inflation, unemployment, and economic inequality, also led to apathy among voters who feel that their immediate economic concerns are not being adequately addressed by the political system.

Restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, as well as the suppression of political dissent, have further created an atmosphere of fear and discourage political engagement from a people whose voices have been quashed by radical suppression.

"The issue of Palestine is one of the current concerns of the Iranian Supreme Leader. Therefore, we also support you in the parliament and provide the necessary support to the resistance front," Ghalibaf said during the meeting, Ali Khamenei having given birth to Iran's proxy militias around the Middle East.

"In addition, the support of other forces of the resistance front, especially Lebanon and Syria, in the fight against the Zionist regime, was very important," he added, referencing the attacks on Israel launched on other fronts, not only from Gaza by Hamas.

In 2018, US President Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, claimed Iran provided $100 million annually to Hamas compared to $700m annually to Hezbollah.

Haniyeh, who arrived in Iran on Tuesday, held talks with key Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, also met with Speaker Ghalibaf on Thursday. He also held a meeting with Khamenei on Thursday.

The meetings come against the backdrop of a recent United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where Hamas has been engaged in conflict with Israel following its invasion of the Jewish state on October 7, killing 1,200 mostly civilians and kidnapping more than 250 others.

Haniyeh's visit marks his second trip to Iran since the outbreak of the war, the worst Gaza conflict since Hamas took control of the strip in 2007. Hamas claims around 32,000 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory attacks in its bid to eradicate the terror group and rescue the remaining hostages. 

While Lebanon’s Hezbollah is by far Iran's richest and most powerful proxy, the combined funds of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine are enormous, Hamas and Islamic Jihad receiving a large share of Tehran’s aid.

Tensions between US President Joe Biden and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu have been deepening as Biden threatens to limit military support for the Jewish state in an attempt to reduce casualties in Gaza amid a humanitarian crisis.

August Pfluger, representative for Texas and a former Air Force F-22 fighter pilot, and Don Davis, representative for North Carolina and an Air Force veteran, wrote in the Washington Examiner that not only is Israel facing an existential struggle against Hamas, whose foundational charter calls for killing Jews and destroying Israel, "our ally is also confronting Iran’s region-wide network of terrorist proxies that attack Israeli civilians, US troops, and commercial shipping vessels".

They said: “In response, we should not only stand beside our partner as Israel defends itself against threats on multiple fronts, but we should also recognize that Israel’s victory against terrorism will be a victory against America’s adversaries and that we therefore must do our utmost to ensure Israel has everything it needs to prevail in this conflict.”

On October 7, Hamas, long backed by Tehran, invaded Israel, killing 1,200 mostly civilians and taking more than 250 hostage in the single most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Military veterans Pfluger and Davis noted the scores of attacks on US facilities around the Middle East which have followed the outbreak of the Gaza war in Iraq, Syria and more recently, on the Red Sea, punishment for its stance supporting Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of October 7.

“America must stand beside its partners when they face barbaric attacks, especially when they are fighting enemies, such as Iran’s terrorist network, who are also intent on harming Americans.” Just weeks ago, three US troops were killed by Iranian-backed militia in Jordan as actions against US forces continue to pose deeper risks to troops in the region.

Israel’s response to the Hamas invasion, celebrated by the Iranian regime just hours after the attacks in spite of Tehran’s distancing itself from the operation, has led to what Hamas’s health ministry claims is over 30,000 deaths and aid groups say the strip is on the brink of starvation.

“It is Hamas, not Israel, that bears ultimate responsibility for the suffering and death in Gaza,” the military experts said. “The terrorist group has diverted a vast amount of humanitarian assistance meant for civilians to fuel its own war effort and enrich its leaders instead. It has fired at Palestinian civilians in Gaza fleeing the conflict zone. It hides terrorists and weapons around, in, and under homes, schools, mosques, and hospitals. The use of human shields is not only a war crime but also a cynical ploy.”

It is US support which allows Israel to conduct precise operations, the pair said, using the likes of US-provided precision-guided missiles for its surgical strikes, in addition to the life-saving interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome missile interceptor system which has protected Israel from most of the 11,000 or more rockets rained down by Hamas, mostly provided by Iran.

“If cuts or conditions on US aid deprived Israel of either of these important munitions, there would only be more, not fewer, civilian casualties — on both sides … Unable to defend against these barrages, Israel would have no choice but to move aggressively and swiftly into all of Gaza to eliminate the launchers.

“Without PGMs, Israel would have to resort to not only using “dumb” bombs but would also have to drop more bombs than it currently does. The result would be far greater devastation of Gaza.”

This week, the US decision not to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, has caused deeper rifts between the two countries, as the US election race heats up, the pressure from Democrats to ease support for Israel weighing heavy on the President.

Netanyahu immediately rejected the resolution’s demands, saying that the war aims continue. “Israel will pursue and achieve its just war objectives: Destroying Hamas's military and governmental capacities, release of all the hostages, and ensuring Gaza will not pose a threat to the people of Israel in the future,” he said on Tuesday.

The resolution also failed to address the issue of the more than 130 hostages still in Gaza. “Regrettably, the United States did not veto the new resolution, which calls for a ceasefire that is not contingent on the release of hostages,” the Prime Minister’s office said.

“This constitutes a clear departure from the consistent US position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war … [the] resolution gives Hamas hope that international pressure will force Israel to accept a ceasefire without the release of our hostages, thus harming both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages.”

In Biden’s presidential race, he had called proposals to condition aid “a gigantic mistake” and an “absolutely outrageous” idea. “He was right then, and he would be right now to reject attaching any strings to assistance for our strongest ally in the Middle East,” concluded the military vets.