The Iranian Diaspora Brief

The Iranian Diaspora Brief: April 5, 2021

Top Stories

Top Iran Security Official Rejects Allegation He Wanted Protestors Killed | Iran International

Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), has threatened to sue reformist former lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi for alleging that he supported killing protesters “as an ultimatum” to intimidate others during unrest in November 2019 that left at least 304 dead.

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American Man Held In Iran Marks 2,000 days In Detention | CNN

Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American detained in Iran, marked 2,000 days — more than five years — in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison on Saturday and his family again urged the Biden administration to do everything it can to get him and his father home. Namazi was arrested and detained in October 2015 and a year later was convicted of “collusion with an enemy state” — the United States — and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He is now the longest-held Iranian-American imprisoned in Iran, according to a statement from his US-based legal team.

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Iran Arrests ‘Israeli Spy’, Others In Touch With Foreign Intelligence: Iranian Media | Reuters

Iran has arrested an “Israeli spy” and a number of other people who were in contact with foreign intelligence services, Iranian state media reported on Monday, without giving the nationality of those arrested. “An Israeli spy has been arrested in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province … also other spies who were in contact with several countries’ intelligence services have been arrested as well,” it quoted an Intelligence Ministry official as saying.

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Regime Abuses

Anoosheh Ashoori, British-Iranian Man Detained In Iran, Says UK Is Not Doing Enough To Save Him | Sky News

In the phone recording, given to Sky News exclusively, south London retiree Anoosheh Ashoori says he is acting out of desperation. “It is now more than three and a half years that all we have received from the British government has just been words and no tangible results,” he said. His family released the recording shortly before his 67th birthday frustrated with the lack of progress in securing his release.

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Iran: Three Executions in the New Persian Year | Iran News Update

On Sunday, April 4, Iranian authorities executed three death-row prisoners at Urmia Central Prison in the northwestern Iranian province of West Azarbaijan, reported the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). A day earlier, prison guards had transferred seven inmates to solitary confinement, preparing them for the execution. As a regular procedure, authorities had called their families to visit their loved ones for the last time on the same day. However, these notices prompted families’ anger, pushing them to hold a rally in front of the prison.

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Iranian Political Prisoner Farhad Salmanpour Denied Medical Care | Iran Human Rights Monitor

Political prisoner Farhad Salmanpour Zahir has been denied medical treatment despite suffering from medical conditions. Farhad Salmanpour who suffered severe injuries to his spine as a result of torture and beatings in prison, as well as harassment of ordinary inmates, barely can walk and urgently needs medical treatment. He also suffers from a lung infection and is suspected of having MS. He needs specialised medical tests. Salmanpour family’s requests for a leave from prison for him in order to receive medical treatment is being withheld by judicial officials.

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Intelligence Forces Arrest Injured Protester In Southern Iran | Iran Human Rights Monitor

Rashed Torkamani who was injured by the state forces in a southern Iranian port, was arrested after referring to a hospital for his wounds. The intelligence agents arrested Rashed Torkamani yesterday when he was leaving a hospital in Bandar Abbas and transferred him to an unknown location. Marine forces in the town of Sirik opened fire on Baluch fuel carriers on March 12, killing a man identified as Mehdi Raisi in Sirik town, near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran.

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In the News

Protests To Sino-Iranian Pact Mount As Activists Write To Chinese Leader | Iran International

In a letter to China’s President Xi Jinping, more than 200 Iranian political activists have protested to the signing of the 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation pact on March 27, calling it “invalid and inhumane.” “The Iranian nation, particularly its political elite many of whom are being tortured in jail or have been forced to live in exile, believe that this contract is not valid,” the letter said. Many Iranians, including some politicians, have also protested against the secrecy around the pact with China and asked why the nation is being kept in the dark about the contents of this document. Some have also asked why the Iranian Parliament’s views were not sought prior to signing the document.

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The China-Iran Deal And The Lack Of Transparency | Modern Diplomacy

The 25-year strategic agreement signed between Iran and China on March 27, 2021, by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has understandably drawn a lot of attention, given that it has important implications – bilateral, regional, and global. It would be important to point out that apart from Iran, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited five other West Asian nations;  Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman.

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Opinion

In Iran’s Sham Elections, Only Candidates Loyal To Khameini Allowed | Struan Stevenson For UPI

Presidential elections are due to be held in Iran on June 18. It will be the 13th presidential election, unlucky for some, but particularly for the Iranian people, who want rid of the theocratic regime that has wrecked their country for the past 42 years. The elections will, as usual, be a sham. Although dozens of potential candidates have registered for the contest, a select few will be hand-picked by the Guardian Council, a group of hard-line mullahs appointed by and fiercely loyal to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.

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Iran Is a Global Military Superpower… According to Iranian Media | Michael Peck For The National Interest

Here’s What You Need To Remember: In reality, the closest combat record we have is the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, which has been compared to World War I in terms of its bloodshed. Did you know that Iran’s navy has always defeated the United States? Did you know that Iran’s army is so invincible that no country can win a ground war against it? Welcome to the megalomaniacal world of Iranian media, where the impossible is still impossible —but makes for great propaganda.

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Non-English Language Media

‘موج سهمگین’ کرونا در ایران؛ وضعیت در تهران و اصفهان قرمز است | BBC News

آمارهای رسمی نشان می‌دهند نیمی از شهرهای ایران در وضعیت قرمز یا نارنجی قرار دارند. سعید نمکی وزیر بهداشت هم می‌گوید این “یکی از سهمگین‌‌ترین امواج کرونا” است. همزمان براساس گزارش‌ها از ایران و به گفته آمار رسمی دولتی ۱۷۲ نفر بر اثر کرونا طی ۲۴ ساعت گذشته جان خود را از دست داده‌اند.

از دیروز ۹۶ شهرستان به شهرهای قرمز و زرد اضافه شده‌اند از جمله چند مرکز استان: تهران، کرج، اصفهان، شیراز، ایلام، شهرکرد و زنجان. دولت اعلام کرد کلیه مسافرانی که به شهرهای قرمز و نارنجی جدید سفر کرده‌‌اند، ۷۲ ساعت فرصت دارند به مبد برگشته وگرنه جریمه خواهند شد.

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سناتور کاتن: آمریکا آن قدر قدرتمند هست که به کشورهای گروگانگیر، از جمله ایران، باج ندهد | Voice of America

تام کاتن، نماینده ایالت آرکانزاس (به گویش آمریکایی: آرکِنسا Arkansas) در سنای آمریکا روز پنجشنبه ۱۴ آذر در نشستی در شهر واشنگتن با اشاره به موارد گروگانگیری شهروندان خارجی در برخی کشورها از جمله ایران در گذشته، تاکید کرد این کشورها برای امتیازگیری دست به این کار می زنند و آمریکا به اندازه‌ای قدرتمند هست که تن به دادن باج ندهد و آنها را وادار به تغییر رویه کند.

این سناتور جمهوریخواه در سخنانی در اندیشکده هادسن با اشاره به اشغال سفارت آمریکا در ایران در آبان ۱۳۵۸، و موارد مشابه در برخی کشورهای دیگر مانند روسیه و چین که آمریکا را امپریالیست می‌خوانند گفت که اکنون بستگان برخی مقام‌های ارشد این کشورها در ایالات متحده به سر می‌برند و از مزایای جهان آزاد استفاده می کنند.

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بازداشت پنج زن در جنوب فرانسه به اتهام طراحی حمله تروریستی | Radio Farda

مقامات فرانسه روز یکشنبه اعلام کردند که پلیس ضد تروریسم این کشور پنج زن را در شهر جنوبی بزیه در ارتباط با طراحی یک حمله تروریستی بازداشت کردند.

گابریل اتال، سخنگوی دولت فرانسه، گفت بازداشت این زنان شامگاه شنبه رخ داده و مظنونین جزو اسلام‌گرایان هستند. وی اما توضیح نداد که هدف حمله احتمالی آنها چه کسانی قرار بوده باشند.

ساعاتی قبل از این یکی از نشریات فرانسوی گزارش داده بود که بازداشت این زنان در ارتباط با طراحی حمله‌ای در شهر مون‌پلیه است. این گزارش می‌گوید که تحقیقات پلیس متمرکز بر یکی از این زنان است و چهار نفر دیگر شامل مادر و خواهرهای او می‌شوند.

ساعاتی قبل از این یکی از نشریات فرانسوی گزارش داده بود که بازداشت این زنان در ارتباط با طراحی حمله‌ای در شهر مون‌پلیه است. این گزارش می‌گوید که تحقیقات پلیس متمرکز بر یکی از این زنان است و چهار نفر دیگر شامل مادر و خواهرهای او می‌شوند.

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