Iran’s Judiciary Tries Damage Control Over Major Hacking Leak
Despite repeated denials by IRGC's Fras news agency about a recent hack of its data servers, Iran's judiciary has started an investigation into damaging leaks.
Despite repeated denials by IRGC's Fras news agency about a recent hack of its data servers, Iran's judiciary has started an investigation into damaging leaks.
Prosecutor General of Tehran Ali Alghasi-Mehr said on Wednesday that the probe into the cyberattack against Fars news, a cultural propaganda machine with close links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, is because a significant database of personal information of journalists and employees has been leaked.
However, it seems that the investigation has been launched because the authorities are not sure what has been hacked and what database has been breached.
A new word has been coined to refer to the large amount of data leaked from the hack: Farsgate.
A 123-page document, a copy of which Iran International obtained, is among the material the hacktivist group Black Reward uncovered. The document which includes both hearsay and excerpts from domestic and foreign-based Persian media was made in one copy only for the eyes of the IRGC chief commander Hossein Salami. Earlier in the week, Black Reward also released some audio files from a meeting between Qasem Qoreyshi, the deputy commander of the paramilitary Basij and media representatives.
Black Reward announced on Friday, November 25, that it had attacked the database of Fars News Agency claiming that it deleted nearly 250 terabytes of data from all the servers and computers of the website and obtained confidential bulletins sent by the news agency to the office of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The report revealed a lot of recent orders by Khamenei about the ongoing protests that have engulfed the country since mid-September following the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini in the custody of morality police. Now, after several batches of information were leaked to the media, the authorities have started a damage control campaign to seize back the narrative, as most of the data prove that the Islamic Republic is frustrated and weary over its inability to end the protests.
The secret reports also revealed that most Iranians are getting ready for a revolution in the country as the popularity of the regime has dwindled, even among those considered supporters of the Islamic Republic. According to the documents, the level of dissatisfaction is so high that Khamenei has ordered some fundamental change in the structure of the regime in order to prevent a collapse.
The reports came as the protests in the country show no sign of ending and the movement has been spreading at universities and turning into strikes of employees in the industrial and services sectors, such as truckers.
While Iranian universities have turned into a battleground for antigovernment protests, students and professors in more than 150 universities around the world held events in support of the protests in Iran.
Meanwhile in Iran, Rasoul Jalili, the president of Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, said on Wednesday that the university has increased its security staff by recruiting forces from private security companies. The measure is probably aimed at silencing those who criticize the university for allowing government security forces – especially the IRGC’s Basij paramilitary forces – to enter the campus to crack down on student rallies and sit-ins. If the measure proves successful, it can serve as a model for other universities to clamp down on students.
While Iranians have planned to hold three days of nationwide protests next week – 5-7 December – strikes by employees of industrial factories and truckers have injected fresh blood to the uprising.
Truck drivers and owners in several cities such as Esfahan, Bandar Abbas, Qazvin, and Kermanshah as well as many other western cities refrained from moving goods in support of the protests and strikes by industrial workers. Many people on social media describe the strike by the truckers as a significant blow to the Islamic Republic since it has the potential to cripple the economy. Some people say, “the truckers are leading the revolutionary uprising.”
In a joint video statement released on Monday, Friday prayer Imams and religious scholars from Khash, Taftan, Mijaveh and their neighboring towns decried the regime’s appalling attacks against the people of Kurdish majority cities, the killings on September 30 dubbed as ‘Bloody Friday’ in Zahedan, and a brutal crackdown of Khash residents on November 4, among others.
Protesting Islamic Republic’s violations of human rights and dignity, they said religious leaders, elders and intellectuals in the province with a unified voice condemn government’s violent reaction to protests across the country and show their “national solidarity.”
The clerics said the attacks against the people at the Grand Makki Mosque -- the largest Sunni mosque in Iran located in the center of Zahedan – and Al-Khalil Mosque in Khash, where security forces arrested many people, and similar incidents across the province are aimed at fomenting fear among the people to dissuade them from attending prayers at mosques. They denounced the strategy by the Islami Republic as “Mosquephobia,” apparently because the mosques are places where Sunni people gather to listen to their community leaders criticize the regime.
The signatories of the statement also called for "the release of all political prisoners in Iran, who were arrested during the recent protests." Noting that peaceful protest is the people's right, they also urged the authorities to address issues regarding women's rights. “The voices of the Iranian people should be heard," they added.
Emphasizing that the relentless ethnic and religious discrimination that has persisted over four decades of the Islamic Republic, the Sunni clerics expressed support for “the wise positions” of Mowlavi Abdolhamid as the serious and legitimate demands of the people.
Molavi Abdolhamid, officially known as Sheikh Abdolhamdid Esmailzehi, is the most prominent religious leader of Iran's largely Sunni Baluch population living in the province. Abdolhamid's popularity is largely because of his willingness to challenge the absolute authority of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Earlier in November, the outspoken Sunni Imam said women, ethnic and religious groups, and minorities have faced discrimination after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. He was also brave enough to blame Khamenei for the attack on protesters in his hometown, Zahedan, known as the Bloody Friday. It took place September 30, when security forces killed about 100 people, and injured hundreds. Earlier in the month, he called for an internationally monitored referendum, saying by killing and suppression the government cannot push back a nation.
The statement by the Sunni clergymen came a day after an audio file was leaked by the hacktivist group Black Reward, revealing the Islamic Republic’s plan to tarnish Abdolhamid’s reputation. The audio tape from a meeting between a Revolutionary Guard general and a group of media managers or representatives from outfits affiliated with the IRGC, revealed that Khamenei demanded Mowlavi Abdolhamid be warned over his comments. Qasem Qoreyshi, the deputy commander of IRGC’s paramilitary Basij forces, also said in the meeting that “We made a mistake about Abdolhamid. We first eliminated tribal leaders in the region to give more credit to Abdolhamid. However, he didn’t carry much weight [in the past].”
In a similar joint video statement released earlier in the month, Sunni religious leaders and Friday prayer Imams in Iran’s Kordestan province also called for a referendum under the supervision of international bodies. The Sunni clerics of Sanandaj and Dehgolan called for a plebiscite with the presence of religious and national leaders, as well as neutral international observers to “get out of the current situation.”