Germany Renews Calls On Tehran To End Brutal Protest Crackdown
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called Thursday on Iranian authorities to immediately end their brutal treatment of protesters and investigate the death of Mahsa Amini.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called Thursday on Iranian authorities to immediately end their brutal treatment of protesters and investigate the death of Mahsa Amini.
In a thread of tweets, she said that it has nothing to do with religion or culture if the police beat a woman to death, as it seems to be the case for the young Iranian girl whose death sparked an uprising across Iran.
Condemning the bloody crackdown on popular protests, she said “The clubs and the tear gas are not an expression of power,”
“The violence by the regime in Iran speaks of pure fear,” Baerbock said, noting that nothing scares violent rulers more than a group of women speaking out together.
"We are doing everything within the EU framework to impose sanctions against those responsible for oppressing women in Iran," echoing similar remarks by other European countries about possible sanctions on Iran over the death of the 22-year-old woman and the clampdown on the ensuing protests.
“I summoned the Iranian ambassador and we made it clear in that the Iranian authorities must stop their brutal actions immediately. Not only the death of Jina (Mahsa Amini), but also that of many demonstrators, needs to be clarified,” she said
Iran's state-run newspaper Tehran Times claimed Thursday that four European countries, including Germany and Netherlands, and an Asian state have been involved in inciting "riots" in Iran. It said the German embassy in Tehran has served as a coordinating center for other EU embassies “to fan the flames of the protests.”
The German embassy encouraged members of Mahsa’s family to speak out against the police, it alleged, adding that the embassy promised them that Germany will give them German citizenship, in case they were prosecuted by the Iranian authorities.
The figure was sourced by Iran International to the lawyer of Efaheh Mohammadi, who said his client had been arrested after covering for the Ham-Mihan newspaper the funeral of Mahsa Amini, who died 16 September after being detained by morality police.
Mohammadi was reported in December 2021 by the Mujahideen-e Khalq, the Albania-based opposition group, to be banned from journalism for a year after Revolutionary Guards’ (IRGC) Intelligence complained over her reporting of “women’s issues” and the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran January 2020 during tensions with the United States.
The International Federation of Journalists, the Brussels-based association, claimed Monday 17 journalists had been arrested including two from the reformist newspaper Shargh and three from Mukrian, a Kurdish news agency, including editor Masoud Kurdpur.
Novelist J.K. Rowling, widely known for her Harry Potter books, tweeted Wednesday on the arrest of Niloufar Hamedi, arguing the Iran should be “held accountable for its human rights violations.” Rowling referred to a London Times article published Tuesday with a Dubai dateline that said Hamedi was held in solitary confinement after “breaking the news that Amini, 22, was in hospital following her arrest,” and publishing “a photo of her parents hugging each other in the hospital corridor, which spread rapidly online.”
Social media: ‘venue for the enemies’
Lotfollah Siakhali, a principlist member of parliament who is a proponent of internet restrictions, told reporters Wednesday that social media was “the biggest venue for the enemies to further their conspiracies” and therefore “restrictions [on Internet access] will continue” as long as unrest went on.
The IRGC commander in Tehran said on Wednesday that 185 members of the Basij militia, which has both full-time and part-time members and is IRGC-affiliated, had been injured during clashes, some critically. Basij militia is widely used in attacking protesters.
But Elon Musk’s headline-grabbing offer September 23 to extend the Starlink satellite Internet link to Iran has floundered. Musk’s intervention was followed by a US announcement lifting the threat of sanctions against anyone providing internet services or equipment to Iran. Musk reportedly told Washington-based Carnegie Endowment fellow Karim Sadjadpour Sunday: “Starlink is now activated in Iran. It requires the use of terminals in-country, which I suspect the government will not support, but if anyone can get terminals into Iran, they will work.”
‘Watch out for Gollum’
Middle East Eye reminded readers Tuesday that Musk once tweeted that “Iran’s nuclear weapons facility is apparently called ‘Frodo’. Watch out for Gollum!”?
Iranian leaders and officials resorted to their playbook of accusing the US and foreign-based media operations of fomenting violence, largely though the conduit of social media. In a televised interview on the official IRIB television Wednesday President Ebrahim Raisi criticized “fabricated claims on killing people” circulated by “the enemy.”
The Iranian government rarely issues permits for protests, except to its own supporters who do not need any formal permission. Six reformist parties, that do not oppose the Islamic Republic, submitted a request days ago and have not received any response.
Heath minister Bahram Einollahi said last week that 72 ambulances had been destroyed. Activists based abroad, cited in the UK Observer newspaper, claimed this happened because ambulances were used to move police forces.
