Hanged Iranian Protester's Father Detained For Over 70 Days

Darya Safai, a member of the Belgian parliament, mentioned on her X account that some individuals are attempting to silence her by labeling her as an 'Islamophobe.'

Safai is also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“What the world is experiencing today is much broader than a war between Israel and Hamas. It is a broad war that shows the direction for certain Muslims to ultimately achieve their goals," she said, highlighting the Muslims’ promised goal to conquer the world and establish an Islamic rule.

“A goal promised to them in their holy book. In the eyes of Islamists, this is a war between Muslims and Israel/West in order to eventually form and conquer a great ummah as the ultimate goal,” said Safai, who has been one of the most vocal European politicians against the violations of human rights by the Iranian regime.

Expressing what many Iranians feel, Safai said, “Criticizing a religion or an ideology, like criticizing Islam, is not something that can be compared to racism or fascism.”

She touched upon an issue often discussed in Iranian social media and said that people who are in line with the Islamic Republic’s propaganda aim to silence all voices of reason. “These shouters do insinuate this and, in this way, try to silence the critics with their term 'Islamophobia’”, she added.

Safai also pointed out that phobia is an unreasonable fear of something, arguing that fear of what Islamist extremists can do is a genuine fear justifiable by the history of deadly attacks on peaceful activism by Islamists.

“Anyone who has grown up in a country where Sharia law is the law, and has experienced it first-hand, has reasons enough to be afraid of the destruction Islam can create," she said.

The regime in Iran killed about 600 people and arrested 22,000 people in 2022-2023 just to prove that the regime did not kill a 22-year-old girl for hijab defiance. “Despite what some naive people try to make us believe here in the West, Islam is not the religion of love and peace, but an ideology that promises its followers a glorious victory, and everything necessary to follow that path, even jihad and terror, is justified,” Safai said.

Vowing that she would “not be silenced by being intimidated with the label Islamophobe,” she said, “I am not afraid and will resolutely continue my work with everything in my power. As a politician it’s my duty to protect Europe and our society from these extremists and I will continue to do so.”

Her remarks echoed a similar sentiment by a large number of Iranians who have become especially vocal about their opposition to the Islamic Republic’s narrative of the Middle East conflict.

On Thursday, Ali Rabiee, a spokesman for former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, implicitly confirmed the high number of Iranians who support Israel in the war against Hamas, which declared war on Israel October 7, when its forces killed 1,400 Israelis and took over 230 hostages.

Rabiee described the Iranians’ pro-Israel stance as an act of oppositional defiance against the Islamic Republic, derived from decades of justifying hefty investment in militant Palestinian and other groups. Some Iranians stand with Israel in the conflict based on their “national oppositional defiance” against the Islamic Republic, he said.

Since the Hamas terror operation it codenamed al-Aqsa Flood (Storm in Persian), Iranians have become even more vocal about their distance from the Islamic Republic’s narrative of the conflict, making trendy hashtags like #IranStandsWithIsrael or chanting creative slogans about where the regime should put the Palestinian flag.

An emotional funeral for a young Israeli soldier of Iranian origin killed in the Hamas attack went viral earlier this week. People saw a video of Shirel Haeimpour’s grandfather singing a traditional Jewish love song and a wedding song with his Esfahani Persian accent for the young woman.

The walls are closing in on the self-described “Professor of Peace,” Mahallati, who has faced accusations from Amnesty International in two reports for covering up the Iranian regime’s massacre of 5,000 dissidents while serving as ambassador to the UN in 1988.

According to a late September US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) letter obtained by Iran International, “OCR will investigate whether the College failed to respond to the harassment of students based on national origin (shared Jewish ancestry).”

Mahallati’s alleged antisemitism and praise of the US and EU-designated terrorist movement Hamas is one part of the OCR investigation, said Melissa Landa, a 1986 graduate of Oberlin College, who filed the complaint in 2019 against the small liberal arts college.

Landa told Iran International “Through his lectures and reading assignments, Mahallati glorifies Hamas and teaches his students to do the same. He also delegitimizes Israel by characterizing the Jewish state as a settler colonial endeavor.” She added that “Mahallati should be fired.”

The OCR complaint cites Mahallati in connection with “support for Hamas and terrorism.” The jihadi terrorist organization Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, slaughtered 1,400 people in southern Israel on October 7. Hamas kidnapped over 240 people.

The complaint cites Mahallati in connection with “support for Hamas and terrorism.”

The stakes are high for Oberlin College. According to the New York Post, “Oberlin College in Ohio could lose chunks of the millions in annual federal funding because of the probe, whose existence it has not yet disclosed to students, alumni and donors. Last year, the school took in more than $5 million in federal grants.”

After Iran International sent press queries to Mahallati and Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar, the college on Friday sent out a mass email titled “Important Message for the Oberlin Community.” According to the email, which was obtained by Iran International and not published on the college’s website, “In light of recent tensions stemming from the conflict in the Middle East and heightened concerns about antisemitism on college campuses across the country, we wanted to inform you of a letter we received from the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR).”

The college added “Only now, in 2023, did we receive notice of the complaint and a request for more information from the OCR. Oberlin is cooperating with the OCR and working to respond to the request.

We abhor antisemitism and all forms of hate, discrimination, and harassment. We work every day to ensure that our campus is safe for all students, faculty, and staff, including those who identify as Jewish. Antisemitism has no place on our campus.”

Iran International press queries to Ambar and Mahallati were not immediately returned. It is unclear why Ambar refused to share the information about the OCR investigation on the college’s website. Ambar has not taken any action against Mahallati despite numerous complaints about his role in covering up the mass prisoner killings in 1988. She issued a report whitewashing his alleged crimes against humanity, according to Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel laureate.

Ambar has also shunned the family members of the executed Iranians who asked to meet with her about Mahallati’s alleged war crimes.

The New York Post noted that “Students boycotted Mahallati’s classes, which were canceled in the spring." A spokeswoman for Oberlin told the paper that Mahallati was on “sabbatical” this teaching term. Iran International can confirm that students are boycotting the disgraced professor’s classes, including students who walked out of one of his teaching sessions.

Student clubs also refused to work with Mahallati during the effort to provide aid to Turks and Syrians during the ferocious earthquake that hit the region in February.

Landa, who founded the Alliance for Israel to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel and hostility toward Jewish students for their support of Israel, has worked with the Iranian-American organization, Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA).

Lawdan Bazargan, who runs the broad-based coalition group AAIRIA, has campaigned to oust Mahallati’s from his college position since 2020. Landa and Bazargan spoke at a protest against Mahallati on the campus of Oberlin in November 2021.

Bazargan, whose brother Bijan was murdered by the regime for his left-wing views in 1988, said at the demonstration, “We want Oberlin College to fire him because Amnesty International accused him of crimes against humanity.”

The lighting rod issue of Mahallati has also spilled over to a city council campaign in Oberlin College.

Dr. Frieda Fuchs, who is a member of AAIRIA, and has penned a critical Iran International opinion article against Mahallati and his ally, Oberlin city councilmember, Ray English, said “A key point in Mahallati’s teaching is that the labeling of Hamas as a terrorist organization is evidence of Islamophobia. Mahallati’s supporters, like the former Director of Libraries at Oberlin College, Ray English, have characterized the organization of the relatives of the Iranian victims of the 1998 prison massacres (AAIRIA) who campaigned for the removal of Professor Mahallati from teaching, as a Zionist-supported right-wing organization.”

Fuchs added that even though many of the “1988 victims were leftist revolutionaries, that the organization has brought together people of various political orientations, and that there is no evidence whatsoever to sustain such a claim. Finally, during my electoral run for a seat on the Oberlin City Council, I have been subjected to a slanderous email campaign by Professor Matt Berkman from Jewish Studies, most likely because of my support for AAIRIA and advocacy against Mahallati.”

Berkman, who is seeking tenure at Oberlin College, faced criticism from Fuchs for his efforts to whitewash the evidence that Mahallati covered up the mass murder of Iranian political prisoners. Text messages reviewed by Iran International between Berkman and Fuchs state that Berkman is not sure “whether Mahallati had knowledge about them.” Berkman also dismissed Mahallati’s repeated calls for a global violent Jihad against Israel and the destruction of the Jewish state as “not very credible at all.”

Berkman advocates for the BDS movement, which the German and Austrian federal parliaments have defined as antisemitic. According to the website Carnary Mission, which tracks alleged extremist and antisemitic academics, Berkman “glorified violent protests” and supports an allegedly far-left fringe Jewish group that has faced allegations of being pro-Hamas. Berkman’s hostility toward Israel mirrors Mahallati’s reported antisemitic statements, argue his critics.

Numerous Iran International press queries sent to English and Berkman were not immediately answered.

According to the HRANA human rights news agency, Sanaz Hekmat Shoar and Bita Haghighi, two Baha’i citizens, were each sentenced to three years in prison and additional fines.

The news agency also announced that twelve other defendants in this case, named Mani Ghoi-Nejad, Negar Darabi, Sam Samimi, Mahsa Fathi, Samieh Gholi-Nejad, Majir Samimi, Anis Sanaei, Afsnaneh Nematian, Basir Samimi, Hengameh Alipour, Golin Falah, and Nazanin Goli were sentenced to a fifty-million-toman fine (approximately 1,000 dollars) in exchange for the initial sentence of two years and one month.

These Baha’i citizens were arrested in August 2022 in Mazandaran province but were released on bail months after.

At the time of their arrest, the Ministry of Intelligence released a statement, accusing these citizens of being members of an espionage organization and claiming that two of them had received training from Israel.

According to HRANA annual report, from the total human rights reports regarding the violation of religious minorities’ rights, 64.63% belonged to the violation of the rights of Baha’is.

The Baha’i faith is not recognized as a legitimate religion by Iranian authorities, leading to systematic and longstanding violations of the rights of Baha’is in the country.

Approximately 300,000 Baha'is reside in Iran, and they frequently document a pattern of regular rights violations. The violations encompass harassment, forced displacement from their residences and businesses, and unequal treatment regarding government employment and access to higher education.

According to Amnesty International, during the "Bloody Friday of Khash" in November 2022, the Islamic Republic forces shot live ammunition at protesters and worshippers, killing at least 18 people, including two children, and injuring dozens.

In his remarks on Friday, Abdolhamid expressed the Iranian people's demand for "justice" and the punishment of the culprits behind the massacre. The incident occurred a few weeks after a similar attack by security forces in the provincial capital Zahedan, where about 100 protesters were killed by the regime’s security forces.

Human rights media outlet Haalvsh has also reported the presence of military forces and intense security measures around Zahedan's Makki Mosque and the city of Khash.

Abdolhamid emphasized the importance of justice and freedom in Iran in his Friday sermon. He stated that existing discrimination and inequalities must be addressed, and political prisoners, including writers, journalists, and intellectuals, should be released and criticism should be tolerated.

After the bloody attacks on protesters in Zahedan and Khash, various cities in Sistan and Baluchestan province have been scenes of popular demonstrations every Friday over the past year.

Despite increased pressure, the protests have continued with authorities blocking the internet and access to communication in the province. Rights groups say, the internet has been shut down continuously since the widespread anti-government protests began in September 2022.

This annual award is given to three artists who address "topics related to the intersectionality of various forms of discrimination and compound discriminations."

Rajabian is the first composer to win this award. A visual artist from Nigeria and a painter from Spain were the two other winners of the award this year.

"Happiness is a collective event, and unfortunately, no one is happy here [Iran]. The situation has changed completely after the recent protests. No award can be a criterion for determining an artist's artistic value, but it can certainly be a platform for the voice of human rights and artistic freedom,” said Rajabian in response to his win.

The UN Art award was presented to Mr. Rajabian in absentia because he is restricted from leaving Iran.

The artist has been detained and faced prison sentences in previous years because of his work. Rajabian was arrested in 2013 for releasing underground music and was charged with “propaganda against the government”. He was put in solitary confinement for three months and then released on bail.

Rajabian was again arrested in 2015 for his album The History of Iran Narrated by Setar, a lute-like instrument used in traditional Persian music.

In Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, Rajabian began a 40-day hunger strike that led to his release on parole in 2017.

Rajabian was arrested again in 2020 for his album Middle Eastern but did not spend time in jail and was released on bail. He was accused of “encouraging prostitution” because females were singing in the album.