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Other Side of the Coin in Iranian Political Prisoner’s Case

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Hunger strike made him popular. Domestic and foreign media talked about Arash Sadeqi and the 19-year prison term he has been sentenced to by Iran’s Judiciary.

arash sadeghi

His wife Golrokh Iraee was also the subject of popular demands in major campaigns launched for Sadeqi in Iranian social media. She has been sentenced to 6 years in prison, and this made the case of this “convicted couple” more romantic and emotional.

Many social media users throughout the world were influenced by the storm started in the cyberspace and various social media, particularly Twitter, with thousands of hashtags posted in support for Arash.

Iranian politicians as well as a number of lawmakers joined the wave and said in their posts that “the life of a human being is in danger, and something should be done to end a more than two-month hunger strike.”

In such an emotional and tense situation, where the ‘human life’ is in danger, few celebrities and even less-known social activists can swim against the tide. Possibly because of the same reason, many celebrities and social media users keep silent and refuse to make any comment for or against the issue. No one wants to be accused of supporting violence and be declared by others as apostate for defending what deems to be right.

Usually, under the circumstances we see these days, two options seem to be more logical and closer to expediency: First, joining the campaign and movement and swimming with the tide, and second, keeping silent!

Therefore, at least in Iran, some people have dared to voice their comments. Knowing about these people’s opinions, whose number is not at all small if we take into account their silent like-minded fellows, would help us better understand the truth.

Foreign observers of Iran’s affairs have always been surprised because of their failure to know about the hidden layers of Iran’s society, the numerous people who have poured to streets after different events and on various occasions.

Texts like the following one indicate the other side of Arash’s coin. By looking from a different view and angle, the deeper parts of Iran’s modern society can be understood to some extent. They are important parts of the Islamic Revolution’s social assets and the ruling system that has come out of it. Therefore, a hasty observation of cyberspace cannot help foreigners realize their weight and power. However, they usually leave some traces in social media, which can be analyzed.

Here is IFP’s translation of excerpts from a post by Maryam Falahatzadeh in her Telegram channel, who believes hunger strike is a tactic to show that you are innocent and a move to create waves against the truth:

Judge it for yourself; please stop being prejudiced and get out of the world of hashtags and media fuss: A person who has had close links with PJAK armed militants, has showed sympathy with the enemies of Iranian nation (the MKO terrorist group), and has made every effort against Iran’s national security in the chaotic region of Middle East, is now considered the innocent one in Twitter and Instagram these days!

Even if we forgive thousands of their unforgivable crimes, the verdict is the result of legal procedures: in this case, the defendant has had access to a lawyer, the case has been investigated at the Court of Appeals, and has been upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court. This is the procedure all other Iranian people go through and receive their sentences.

The establishment of peace and security is impossible without the rule of law and people’s adherence.

It is interesting that a man has spent 68 days without eating anything, and still he is alive! Honestly, use more logical lies if you want to pretend you are innocent!

Have those who claim to be advocates of humanity ever talked about thousands of homeless people in this country?!

Do they know about such champions as Ahmad Motevaselian [Iranian military attaché who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982]? At least post hashtags in support for honourable people who have sacrificed their lives for their homeland, and the security we have today is because of their efforts.

Oh God! How is it possible that people who have never read about Arash Sadeqi’s life and whose only source is Wikipedia defend a traitor for a number of likes?

Have you forgotten the cases of Ahmad Batebi and Shabnam Madadzadeh? These were the ones for whom some people posted hashtags, but finally ended up in the MKO terrorist group after a while!

Iran’s Parliament Votes to End Ahmadinejad’s ‘Mehr’ Mass Housing Project

By
IFP Media Wire
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Mehr- housing project

The Parliamentarians in their debates over Iran’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2020-2025) voted to have Maskan Bank allocate the required funds for completing the remaining phases of ‘Mehr’ (kindness in Persian) housing project which was a main brainchild of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013).

No more new Mehr houses should be built, the MPs made it clear through an overwhelming approval. The move is already seen as significant for releasing huge amounts from the annual national development budgets that should have otherwise been spent on the scheme that had drawn serious criticisms by Rouhani’s government.

“Mehr Housing Now History,” wrote Arman Emrooz in an article on its front page.  “Goodbye Mehr Housing,” wrote another daily – Jam-e Jam. Sharq newspaper described Mehr housing as a “burden” for Iran’s economy.

“Finally, the fate of a heritage of the 10th government [of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] was determined,” wrote Etemad newspaper. “The 11th government [of President Hassan Rouhani] had inherited lots of unfinished projects with huge debts that still needed to be settled. More importantly, this government had to respond to the shortcomings of its predecessor while it was not involved in anything related to them.”

Iran's Parliament Votes to End Ahmadinejad's 'Mehr' Mass Housing Project
“The End of Ahmadinejad’s Mehr,” wrote Sharq newspaper on its front page on Tuesday.
Iran's Parliament Votes to End Ahmadinejad's 'Mehr' Mass Housing Project
“Mehr Housing Becomes History,” wrote Arman Emrooz newspaper on its front page.
Iran's Parliament Votes to End Ahmadinejad's 'Mehr' Mass Housing Project
“Seal of Termination on Mehr Housing,” wrote Aftab-e Yazd newspaper in a front-page article.

The target of the project – which started in 2007 – was to erect 17 new cities and some 1.5 million housing units to poor families in face of rising land and apartment prices.

Accordingly, billions were withdrawn from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) upon orders by the government to push the project forward.

The CBI was even ordered by the government to print money to fund the scheme, what eventually led to a rise in the monetary base and a runaway inflation, as reported by Ebtekar newspaper.

Estimates show that the banks had doled out loans totaling above $10.2 billion to applicants as of January 2011.

However, signs of the project’s failure emerged from early phases when the public failed to welcome it as desired.

This was due to the fact that the Mehr housing blocks had been mostly constructed with substandard designs and materials in remote areas with poor – or even non-existing –infrastructure facilities.

Other problems emerged later when developers found the project unprofitable as a result of skyrocketing inflation and began to leave many housing units half-complete.

Furthermore, inflation in the real estate market proved profitable for racketeers who bought off units using complicit applicants as intermediaries, then sold them at much higher prices, as reported by the media.

This eventually led to a nine-fold increase in prices of houses and pushed up inflation already deteriorated as a result of sanctions against the country.

Iran's Parliament Votes to End Ahmadinejad's 'Mehr' Mass Housing Project

The vote by the Parliamentarians was welcomed by the media for its anticipated effect on removing a huge financial burden on the government of President Hassan Rouhani.

Rouhani, himself, had emphasized soon after taking office that the Mehr housing scheme was one of the largest hurdles to Iran’s economic recovery. He told the nation in a televised address on the occasion of his first 100 days in office that the project was responsible for 40 percent of Iran’s liquidity.

The significant of the Parliament’s vote becomes further clear when considering that the amount that Ahmadinejad’s government had allocated for the project was higher than the collective development budgets for several past years of Rouhani’s tenure, wrote shafaf.ir news website.

Iran’s Leader Calls for Efforts to Ensure High Turnout in Upcoming Presidential Votes

By
IFP Media Wire
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leader

In a meeting with provincial governors in Tehran on Monday, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli focused on the programs devised for the next presidential election, slated for May 19.

Referring to his recent meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei, the minister said the Leader has highlighted the need for efforts to hold the election in healthy and safe conditions, with full respect for the law and with a high turnout, as was the case in the previous elections.

In the last presidential election in 2013, more than 70 percent of 50 million eligible voters cast their ballots.

In October 2016, Ayatollah Khamenei outlined the general policies on elections in Iran, from the preliminary stages of qualifying the candidates to the announcement of the ultimate results.

In the document, the Leader had emphasized that all candidates should be entitled to equal advantages when it comes to using state-run facilities, such as the national broadcasting or other public media outlets.

Crisis in Liberated Iraq: Children with Birth Certificates Issued by ISIS!

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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According to a Farsi report by Jame Jam newspaper, to the children of Mosul, the damages of ISIS occupation aren’t limited to physical and mental harms: any child who is born in ISIS-controlled areas after June 2014 has ISIS-issued identification documents.

Aram Abolkarim, a legal expert on identity of newcomers, announced that ISIS established its administrative registration system just a month after the occupation of Mosul.

He went on to say that families should stay in camps until official Iraqi birth certificates are issued for their children – a process that may take several years.

As the polygamy is common among regional inhabitants, they have larger families, thus require more birth certificates. Furthermore, certain families have all their birth, marriage and death certificates issued by ISIS.

“The battle of Mosul liberation has prolonged too much. Even after the end of war, it will take several years to solve the problems. The problem is too complicated to be resolved by simply returning home,” said Lawak Ahmad, the governor of Qandil region, Iraq.

Saudi Ruler Will Be Ousted in 2017 in a ‘Palace Coup’

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Saudi Arabia

“Decades of repression, overspending and corruption will finally come back to haunt the Saudi royal family. There will be a palace coup against the country’s effective ruler Prince Salman and the regime he has led with his infamous ‘iron fist’,” Daily Mail’s commentator Peter Oborne said in his predictions for the New Christian Year.

“Paying the price for meddling in both the Syrian and the Yemeni civil wars, he is likely to be replaced by former security chief Mohammed bin Naif, who has long-standing links with Washington,” the report added.

37 Top American Scientists Urge Trump to Abide by Iran Nuclear Deal

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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trump

According to a report by IFP, 37 top American scientists have referred to Iran nuclear deal as “a critical US strategic asset” in their letter to Trump, and urged him to preserve it.

The 37 signatories included Nobel laureates, veteran makers of nuclear arms, former White House science advisers and the chief executive of the world’s largest general society of scientists.

The letter was organized by Richard L. Garwin, a physicist who helped design the world’s first hydrogen bomb and has long advised Washington on nuclear weapons and arms control. He is among the last living physicists who helped usher in the nuclear age, New York Times reported.

The letter to Trump says its objective is to “provide our assessment” of the Iran deal since it was put in effect nearly a year ago. On Jan. 16, 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the technical body in Vienna that oversees the accord with teams of inspectors it has sent to Iran, gave its approval, saying Tehran had curbed its nuclear program enough to begin receiving relief from longstanding sanctions.

While the deal was opposed by all Republicans in the US House and Senate, it is not clear that Trump would move quickly to renege on it. Any effort by the United States to walk away from its terms, or to renegotiate it, would open the way for Iran to insist on changes as well.

Is Saudi Arabia in Retreat after 650 Days of War on Yemen?

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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yemen

According to a Farsi report by Kayhan, 22 months after the beginning of Saudi invasion of Yemen, on the eve of the anniversary of Saudi king’s coronation, which is called “Allegiance with Salman”, Adel Al-Jubeir, the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, announced that his country prefers political solutions in Syria, Libya and Yemen!

He stated that due to previous experiences in dealing with security challenges, increasing terrorism, and foreign interventions in Saudi Arabia affairs to undermine its domestic security, King Salman of Saudi Arabia is trying to adopt a stable, moderate policy toward regional issues.

Yemen has been under military strikes by Saudi Arabia since March 26, 2015. The Saudi war was launched in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who has resigned as Yemen’s president but seeks to grab power.

Yemeni Mother Loses 5 Children in Saudi Airstrikes

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Yemeni Mother

According to a Farsi report by Al-Alam, Yemeni media published a moving photo of an aging woman who lost her five children during the bombardment of Sirwah, Ma’rib, by the Saudi-led coalition’s aircraft on the first day of 2017.

Coming from a very poor family, her children made a living out of collecting firewood.

The photo shows how she is in distress after the loss of her husband and children.

Media reports have condemned Saudi Arabia for the slaughter of Yemeni people at the beginning of New Year.

Americans Don’t Dare to Ban Use of Gun: Iran’s Leader

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Leader

Addressing a meeting with a group of top Iranian students in Tehran on Monday, the Leader pointed to increasing violence and deadly shootings in the United States and stated that murder and the spread of arms use have turned into a “serious problem” in the country.

This problem can be solved through the prohibition of the use of firearms by the citizens of the country, the Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei added that American officials, however, do not dare outlaw the use of guns due to the high influence of firearms manufacturing companies inside the country.

The Leader further referred to the lack of spirituality and divine values as being behind the rifts, shortcomings and frailties of the Western civilization despite its great materialistic advances.

Ayatollah Khamenei cited moral, intellectual and practical deviations, the collapse of family institution, increasing violence, moral corruption, suicides in Western societies, particularly in the US, as results of the dearth of spirituality and divine values.

The Leader noted that some American scholars and intellectuals explicitly admit that these immoral acts and afflictions are rampant in their country, Press TV reported.

LeaderScientific Progress Should Be Accompanied by Ethics

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei underscored the importance of commitment to religious values and the Islamic Revolution’s ideals alongside scientific efforts.

“Scientific progress alone will not bring about happiness for a nation and country, but when the scientific movement is accompanied by sublime spiritual and revolutionary values, it will pave the way for settlement of the country’s problems and make it a role model for the region, the Islamic world and the globe,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, as reported by Tasnim.

Ayatollah Khamenei further underscored that Iran’s scientific progress should not be hampered or stopped, but should be accelerated instead.

Iran’s natural resources and capacities are very extensive, diverse and even unknown, the Leader added, calling on the young generation to tap into such potential and ensure the country’s progress, in both material and spiritual dimensions.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Lashes Out at Growing Islamophobia in Western Countries

By
IFP Media Wire
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“In Western countries, which claim (to be advocates of) freedom and human rights, Islamophobia is constantly promoted and day after day attacks on Muslims and their religious sites intensify,” Ayatollah Amoli Larijani said in a meeting of senior Judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday.

Stressing that continuation of such anti-Muslim violence is absolutely unacceptable, the official said security of Muslims in Western countries must be ensured by the governments of those countries.

“Criminal acts committed by a few terrorists calling themselves Muslim have nothing to do with Islam,” the senior cleric underscored, adding that no Muslim should face insecurity in Western countries because of such acts of terrorism.

He said the Islamic Republic of Iran is proud to have provided and guaranteed security for followers of divine religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, noting that followers of these faiths, like their Muslim fellow countrymen, live in peace and freedom in Iran and that Western countries should follow Iran’s example in this regard.

Ayatollah Amoli Larijani further referred to the West’s atrocities in regional countries such as Syria and Palestine and expressed the hope that in the new Gregorian calendar year of 2017, Western rulers, by truly following the teachings of Jesus Christ (AS), stop those crimes and take steps for the happiness of their own people and the rest of the world.

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