Iran Puts Travel Ban On Acclaimed Film Director Kimiai

Reports from Khoy, the epicenter of the Saturday quake say the victims spent Sunday night in the streets amid freezing temperatures.

According to the reports received by Iran International, the process of providing aid to the affected people is “terrible.”

The earthquake-hit people of Khoy are still deprived of having access to tents, and the government has used water cannons against residents who protested the unbearable conditions.

Videos sent to Iran International show widespread disorganization in the distribution of food and necessities among the people.

Another video published on social media shows people who have gathered in front of the governor’s office asking for help.

“We talked to the governor about the need for tents. He says it has nothing to do with me. I say to the authorities, help people. If the earthquake didn’t kill people, don’t let the cold kill them,” says a quake-hit citizen.

Also, Faraz online newspaper announced most of the bakeries in Khoy do not work, and enough bread was not supplied and distributed among people.

Hengaw Human Rights Organization has asked the people of surrounding cities to help the earthquake victims because “government bodies basically do not have a specific plan for adequate and immediate assistance.”

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 hit northwest Iran near the border with Turkey on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring over 800.

In a statement on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said, “In an amateurish and biased comparison, the chancellor of Germany once again proved that he still stands on the wrong side of history.”

Scholz, who was speaking in Buenos Aires Sunday, remembered the victims of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina and compared this regime with the one currently ruling Iran.

Scholz participated in a ceremony at Río de la Plata, explaining that he cannot help but think immediately of the young people who are being murdered in Iran when they defend their freedom and struggle for a better.

It is estimated that between 7,000 and 30,000 people lost their lives during the military dictatorship in Argentina. Some of the victims were thrown into the Rio de la Plata in so-called death flights without the relatives being informed.

“The fact that dictatorship brings suffering, oppression and death is very visible here, just as we perceive it everywhere in the world today,” the German chancellor noted.

US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) released a report Sunday that at least 527 protesters have been killed in Iran since the protests began more than four months ago following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

Iran has also executed four young protesters so far to contain the nationwide demonstrations.

According to reports received by Iran International, the activity of at least nine professors at the Faculty of Political Science of Tehran Azad University have been terminated.

In Khorasan Razavi province in the east, Mahshid Gohari, professor of literature at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, announced on her Instagram page that after seven years of teaching, the university has expelled her.

Javad Atefeh, a playwright, director and theater instructor, announced on his Instagram page, "For reasons that I am sure you know", he is not offered to teach in universities for the next semester.

Earlier, there were reports of suspensions and dismissals of university professors who supported the protests against the Islamic Republic following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in mid-September.

Court cases have also been filed against many university professors and they have been arrested or summoned.

For example, in Kordestan Province in the west, Mohammad Sadeq Amiri, a professor of Sanandaj Azad University, was arrested by security forces on December 7.

Zahra Khoshkjan, a professor of political science at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, was summoned to the disciplinary committee for not holding classes on December 5, 6, and 7, in support of protests and she has now been banned from entering the university.

“Let’s not fear having a dictatorship in the future. Let’s not fear Iran's dismemberment. These fears are not real … Let’s agree on [our] minimum demands and dig the grave of this rotten corpse,” the Canada-based Hamed Esmaeilion wrote in an Instagram post Sunday.

He wrote the comment on the anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s return from exile to Tehran in 1979 and the establishment of the Islamic Republic. The post has been liked by nearly 200,000 so far.

In his long commentary, Esmaeilion urged Iranians both inside the country and abroad to unite, whether republicans or monarchists, belonging to minority religious or ethnic groups, on the right of the political spectrum or on the left.

“Many of the mistakes of the past will not be repeated if we leave political disputes to after the toppling of the descendants of the demon [Khomeini],” he wrote adding that unreasonable arguments would only delay the waves of protests in Iran where people no longer fear fighting the regime.

Like the exiled prince Reza Pahlavi, activists Masih Alinejad, Nazanin Boniadi, and footballer Ali Karimi, many on social media have expressed support for Esmaeilion’s membership in an opposition council to be formed for transition from the Islamic Republic.

Last week, Prince Reza Pahlavi also urged pro-democracy forces to unite. “I’m extending my hand, once again, for cooperation to all pro-democracy forces, including individuals, parties and groups, to support the Iranian national revolution,” he said in a statement published via his social media accounts.

The exiled prince’s plea came soon after his supporters launched a campaign to endorse him as the trustee of the Iranian people in transition to secular rule. Over 433,000 have so far signed the petition launched in mid-January.

Esmaeilion and others have recently been under heavy fire on social media for not having joined the campaign to give power of attorney to the exiled prince. Critics of the campaign say it has played a divisive role, caused rifts among the opposition, and led to the cooling of the revolutionary fervor on the streets in Iran.

In his recent statement, the exiled prince set three preconditions for cooperation with others: Accepting to ensure Iran's territorial integrity and the people’s right to determine the form of the future political system through a free vote as well as belief in human rights-based secular democracy.

Some Kurdish, Baluch, Turkic speaking groups and individuals, and those supporting federalism, argue that the mention of territorial integrity is divisive and is a sign federalism will not be tolerated. Others, particularly supporters of the exiled prince say demanding federalism is only a cover for separatism and dismemberment of Iran.

In the past four months, protesters across the country, particularly in Kurdish and Baluchi cities, have often chanted slogans such as “From Baluchestan (or Kordestan) to Tehran, we sacrifice our lives for Iran” to repudiate claims of separatism and stress the unity of all Iranians against the regime.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians welcomed a New Year message tweeted by Prince Reza Pahlavi, Alinejad, Karimi, Boniadi, and Esmaeilion as well as actress Golshifteh Farahani on December 31 in which these opposition figures had wished that further solidarity and organizing could make 2023 the last year of the clerical rule in Iran.

Many believed that the tweet heralded the formation of a revolutionary council in exile that could take on the role of leading the Iranian revolution in the absence of strong revolutionary political parties and leaders in the country.

According to Kayhan's proposal, the headquarters shall consist of 19 representatives from key ministries and organizations including the intelligence ministry, the Supreme National Security Council as well as the state TV.

The daily run by the hardliner editor Hossein Shariatmadari, who is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative at the newspaper, has also suggested that mosques and Basij militia bases be used as the coordination centers for “regional and national action and counteraction against the enemy's soft war.”

In November, Khamenei called the ongoing anti-regime uprising following the death of Mahsa Amini a "hybrid war" led by the “enemies”.

“Enemies” in his view include the United States, Israel, Europeans, regional countries and any Iranian who is not loyal to him.

Following Khamenei’s lead, Iranian officials began to allege that the nationwide protests were instigated by foreign enemies mostly through social media.

Ali Fadavi, the second highest commander in the Revolutionary Guard, also said in October that the country’s ‘enemies’ who used to focus on ‘hard war’ against the Islamic Republic for decades have now adopted a hybrid approach, combined with soft power.