One Dead As Copter Carrying Iran’s Sports Minister Crashes
The helicopter carrying the minister of sports, Hamid Sajjadi, has crashed in southern Iran while landing in the sports complex of Baft city.
The helicopter carrying the minister of sports, Hamid Sajjadi, has crashed in southern Iran while landing in the sports complex of Baft city.
Hospital sources reported that the sports minister's adviser, who was injured in the accident, has lost his life. The adviser who died was Esmail Ahmadi, who was the IRGC liaison in the ministry and was in charge of putting pressure on athletes who removed hijab during national and international competitions.
Media in n Tehran say that the minister has cerebral hemorrhage, although the government’s official news website IRNA has not reported about his injury.
Local media report that at least four passengers were also injured and transferred to medical centers.
In an interview with IRNA, an eyewitness said he saw several people taken to medical centers after the chopper lost control while landing.
A photo of the accident shows a part of the copter is detached.
Alireza Poursalman, the head of Iran’s Fencing Federation, was accompanying Sajjadi on the trip. Some other local officials along with a group of journalists had gone to Baft with the minister.
IRNA cited Kerman’s governor, Mohammad-Mehdi Fadakar, as saying that the cause of the crash is under investigation.
In January, the European Union imposed sanctions on Sajjadi over Tehran’s crackdown on anti-regime protests.
The sanctions included a travel ban and asset freeze on the minister, who the EU accused of pressuring Iran’s athletes into silence.
Iran International obtained some documents in December 2022 showing that the security of the Ministry of Sports, in a confidential letter, asked the federations and all provincial offices to prevent athletes from showing support for nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini.
The Secretariat of the Assembly -- also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts – issued a statement on Wednesday, reiterating obsequious remarks about Khamenei.
In their statement, the members of the assembly described Khamenei as a force of “solidarity and national unity," and decried the slogans and slurs that are chanted against him during popular protests for over five months.
Members of the Assembly are elected from the inner circle of the regime and people very close to the Khamenei, which explains their full loyalty. The assembly – which is in charge of supervising, dismissing and electing the Supreme Leader – can run for election after being vetted by the Guardian Council, whose members are, in turn, appointed either directly or indirectly by the Supreme Leader.
The Guardian Council is composed of six Islamic law experts, selected by the Supreme Leader, and six jurists, nominated by the Chief Justice, who in turn, is also appointed by the Supreme Leader. Therefore, it is a self-serving closed-circuit system that ensures all key constitutional position are occupied by loyalists.
Interestingly enough, the head of both bodies is hardliner cleric Ahmad Jannati, who turned 96 on Wednesday, a day after he was re-elected as the chairman of the Assembly of Experts for another two years. First Deputy Chairman of the assembly is President Ebrahim Raisi.
The assembly’s statement repeatedly glorified Khamenei, claiming that the "unprecedented large volume of propaganda and insults" against him indicates that the enemy understands his important role in “guidance and management of society.”
The statement also reiterated calls for the preservation of "hijab" -- or Islamic dress code -- as a clear message of the Islamic revolution and one of the "elements of the identity of the Islamic Republic of Iran". The current wave of protests, the boldest the regime has ever faced in the 43 years of its existence, was ignited when hijab enforcement patrols arrested Mahsa Amini violently that led to her death at hospital due to severe trauma on her head.
In a meeting with the chairman and some members of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran on Thursday, Khamenei said that the Islamic establishment “opposes those who believe in the Western secularism and opposes the leaders of liberal democracy, who have hatched a plot to dominate over and plunder the world’s resources behind the false flag of freedom and democracy,” he said.
According to a confidential letter obtained by Iran International in recent days, the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has asked the government not to disclose the budget of institutions such as the Hijab police, which are criticized by the people.
The regime has heavy-handedly suppressed protesters, executing four young men, killing well over 500, including more than 70 children, and arresting around 20,000 in the past five months.
On Monday, an estimated crowd of about 20 to 30 thousand people held a rally in Brussels outside the European Council to call on EU countries to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Thousands of Iranians from all over Europe held a massive rally in Strasbourg in January for the same purpose. Also on Monday, the EU sanctioned 32 Islamic Republic officials, including culture and education ministers, deputy IRGC commander, and several MPs. The move can be seen as a measure to justify the fact that the EU is not yet ready to designate the entirety of the IRGC.
