Source: BBC Persian
The Iranian MP Ali Motahari is under attack by the Pasdaran and his colleagues in the Parliament because of his position in favor of a right process against Mir Hossein Mousavi and Medhi Karroubi, the two leaders of the Green Wave. During a recent speech in the Majles, he was physically attacked by other MPs. As it is possible to see in the video below, his car was attacked by Basij’s motorcycles during a visit in Shiraz.
Sources: AliMotahari.ir, Radio Zamaneh
The Iranian judiciary has ordered the closure of the website of Ali Motahari. The conservative MP, is under attack for his speech in the Parliament in favor of Mousavi and Karroubi. For his words, Motahari was physically attacked by other Iranian MPs (please, click here to watch the video). More, recently Motahari denounced that the “freedom of speech has become more strained under the Rohani administration and self-censorship has become more common in the media“. In an interview with Tasnim News, Motahari remarked that “when the administration is reformist, there will be more pressure to prevent the government’s tendency toward opening the political atmosphere“.
Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
A few days after the Iranian Judiciary ordered the reformist Mardom-e Emrooz newspaper banned, ultra conservative members of the Iranian Parliament are working on legislation to permanently ban journalists who have worked for reformist publications that were shut down by the authorities. The measure is meant to ensure that such journalists will not resurface and continue their work in another publication. Hardliner cleric MP Hamid Rasaei told to Tasnim News agency: “We are preparing an urgent plan that would require the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to prevent an individual [from continuing his] work in the press and his assumption of responsibilities in this area, after media under his management has been repeatedly banned for insulting the sacred“. He added: ““We are concerned that just like the years of American reforms [referring to reformist Mohammad Khatami’s presidency, 1996-2004], and as a result of the misconduct of the Culture Ministry and the Government’s support for this sick media current, the press would again turn into enemy bases, [necessitating] the Supreme Leader to warn against certain media’s having turned into enemy bases”.
With 145 votes in favor, the Iranian Parliament (Majles) approved the impeachment of the reformist Minister of Science and Technology Faraji-Dana. The official reason for his impeachment was connected to the “national security”, meaning that the Minister was accused to have politicized too much the universities environment. The reality, another time, is different: Faraji-Dana impeachment is directly connected to the 2009 repression of the Green Wave movement. During his mandate, in fact, Minister Faraji-Dana approved the return of more than 140 students – anti-Ahmadinejad activists – inside the faculties from where they were banned five years ago. The impeachment of Faraji-Dana represent a big defeat for President Rouhani.
More: the President himself must be worried for his university past. In a letter that was diffused in the Majles, different Iranian MPs questioned the validity of Rouhani’s PhD. They claim that the President has started to prefixing his name with the title of PhD since 1980, when he was a simple member of the Majles. Above all, they say that this happened many years before 1999, the official date in which Rouhani has received his PhD from the Glasgow Caledonian University. In order to demonstrate the validity of Rouhani’s PhD, also the University in Glasgow has shown the video in which is possible to see the actual Iranian President going through the graduation ceremony.
Despite this, the clash remains and could soon also involve the actual Minister of Labor Ali Rabiei: Fars News, Iran press agency close to IRGC, has published a special report on him, in which it claim that the university degree of the Minister is a fake.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEqfDD0EPpk%5D
“Give more children to the revolution”, this could be the new Iran regime’s slogan. In particular, this is what the Iranian Supreme Leader ordered to Iranian mothers. In a 14 points program, published in May, Khamenei invited the executive to promote policies that will increase the birthrate, will promote Islamic values and, above all, will fight against Western Culture…
The first reaction of the Iranian people was very funny. They create a special condom with the face of Khamenei, and a simple question on the top: How Can I Say No?
Apart from the jokes, unfortunately, the Iranian executive is taking important steps, in order to fulfill Khamenei’s order: as Golnaz Esfandiari wrote, the Iranian “parliament has passed a bill that would make vasectomies, tubectomies, and other surgical methods of sterilization punishable by two to five years in prison. The bill cleared parliament on June 24 by a vote of 207 in favor and 106 against, although many questions remain — including whether the doctors carrying out the procedures, or the patients receiving them, would be subject to punishment. The bill would reportedly also introduce jail sentences for those who promote sterilization as a means of birth control. Abortions are already banned in Iran, except for special cases.”
This kind of regime’s decisions, as always, do not respect the right of every single people – first the women – to decide alone how many children they want to have. This, especially considering the high level of the unemployment rate between the Iranian young population. On this side, no governmental decision was taken and Iran continues to waste the biggest part of its oil incomes, promoting terrorism all around the world, sending jihadists to Syria and Iraq or financing the controversial nuclear program…
[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-vVoKQyvd8%5D
In one of his last tweets, Iran President Hassan Rouhani wrote that his Government is unhappy about the current Internet speed situation. Because of this, he announced the intention to work actively in order to modify the situation, for users at home, office and mobile. Even considering these words, another time it’s impossible to understand if this is a real commitment, or another charm diplomacy propaganda.
In fact, just few days before Rouhani’s tweet, Iran’s Cyber Police (FATA) chief Kamal Hadianfar attacked Internet users and defended regime’s censorship. In his accusation, published on Mehr News, Kamal Hadianfar criticized Iranian users of Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which represent the only way to circumvent strict state censorship and obtain decent access to Internet line. Therefore, Hadianfar added that Iran Parliament is ready to approve a new special law against “online crimes”.
Human right activists said that, for the moment, Hadianfar did not provide details on the scope of the bill. It is not clear what kind of VPN activity would be deemed criminal, since it is widely used by private individuals, government offices, and businesses, including banks. In any case, no matter which kind of bill will be approved, Iranian civil society will lose again its battle for freedom.
Good Morning Iran 