close button
Switch to Iranwire Light?
It looks like you’re having trouble loading the content on this page. Switch to Iranwire Light instead.
Features

Angela Merkel + Smugglers + Dutch Girlfriends + Sudanese Jews

September 19, 2019
Maziar Bahari
2 min read
The regime has been trying to stifle any dissent by persecuting activists. Sepideh Gholian and Esmail Bakhshi have faced pressure to confess to crimes they haven't committed
The regime has been trying to stifle any dissent by persecuting activists. Sepideh Gholian and Esmail Bakhshi have faced pressure to confess to crimes they haven't committed
"You’re basically selling them torture tools,” Mazyar Ebrahimi wrote to the IBC Media Exhibition, asking the industry to not sell equipment to Iran
"You’re basically selling them torture tools,” Mazyar Ebrahimi wrote to the IBC Media Exhibition, asking the industry to not sell equipment to Iran
The International Judo Federation has suspended Iran following the scandal in late August, when a judo champion was forced to withdraw from a competition in order to avoid facing an Israeli
The International Judo Federation has suspended Iran following the scandal in late August, when a judo champion was forced to withdraw from a competition in order to avoid facing an Israeli

We are anxiously waiting to see if another war in the Middle East may start. The US and its allies may decide to attack Iran in retaliation for bombing Saudi oil fields. They may not. We don’t know. But we know for sure that a war or even an attack will bring more misery to ordinary Iranians. Yet it will be a blessing for a failing regime that has grown even more fragile — hence more insane — in recent months. The regime’s corruption has been public knowledge since four decades ago, but a recent wave of arrests and trials of corrupt officials have brought that knowledge to the surface. At the same time, the regime has been trying to stifle any dissent by persecuting activists and civil society groups with a ferocity we haven’t seen since the 1980s. 

This week, IranWire covered some of the pressure and the resilient responses to this brutality, including from outspoken activist Sepideh Gholian, who released an audio clip about how she’s been treated while in Gharchak Prison. We also published a letter from a victim of torture and televised confessions, Mazyar Ebrahimi, to the IBC Media Exhibition asking media companies around the world to boycott Iranian state TV. “You’re basically selling them torture tools,” Ebrahimi writes.

There are always evil merchants who try to take advantage of other people’s hardships. Human traffickers and smugglers are among the most evil individuals of our time. IranWire has published unrivalled coverage of trafficking and smuggling over the last two years. This week we published two articles about how citizens have been trying to fight against these criminals and how we have been trying to help them. A woman going by the name of Saba has made it her mission to let Iranians know how human traffickers take advantage of refugees. One of those crooks is an Iranian going by the name of “Ranko.” IranWire tells the story of Shima (pseudonym) and her mother, who handed over their savings to Ranko, who pretended to help refugees and who actually fled Greece without helping them as he promised. 

As I was writing this, news has emerged that the International Judo Federation has suspended Iran following on from the scandal in late August, when judo champion Saeed Mollaei withdrew from a world competition in order to avoid competing with an Israeli opponent. It’s a direct contradiction of the promises from the Supreme Leader that the world could do “nothing” to hold Iran and Iranian athletes back.

comments

Features

Fractured Heads and Bloodied Bodies: Police Attack Protesting Workers

September 19, 2019
Javad Motevali
6 min read
Fractured Heads and Bloodied Bodies:  Police Attack Protesting Workers