January 14, 2023
Iran executed dual British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari for alleged espionage, state media announced Saturday, drawing swift condemnation from the United Kingdom.
Akbari served as a deputy defense minister for the regime before his arrest, which came sometime in 2019 or 2020 for allegedly working with British intelligence MI6, according to Mizan News Agency, a state-controlled media outlet with links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"I am appalled by the execution of British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari in Iran. This was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people. My thoughts are with Alireza’s friends and family," British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted.
British officials had pleaded with Tehran not to execute Akbari and to release him, but Tehran does not acknowledge dual citizenship and refused to capitulate, the Washington Post reported. His death sentence came via hanging, but details of precisely when it was conducted were not revealed by Iran's state-run media.
Iran has previously made disputed accusations of spying during its arrests. Akbari, 61, served in former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's administration from 1997 to 2005. His former boss, then-Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani is now the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had invited Akbari back to Iran prior to his arrest, Akbari's brother told the BBC.
Tehran's Ministry of Intelligence characterized Akbari as "one of the most important infiltrators of the British spy service." He reportedly participated in nuclear negotiations on behalf of Tehran.
Officials at the State Department iterated the United Kingdom's pleas to Iran not to execute Akbari.
"We echo the British government’s strong call for Iran not to proceed with this execution and to release Mr. Akbari immediately. The charges against Ali-Reza Akbari and his sentencing to execution were politically motivated. His execution would be unconscionable," U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said.
Akbari resided in the U.K for roughly a decade and is believed to have played a key role in brokering a cease-fire that ended the eight-year war with Iraq in 1988, the Guardian reported. British officials vowed to support his family.
State-run media in Iran played a highly edited video of his purported confession and alleged he garnered over $2.3 million for serving as a spy for the U.K., the Washington Post reported.
Tehran recently sentenced a Belgian national with 74 lashes and 40 years in prison for espionage charges. Iran has been gripped by sprawling protests over the September death of Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being apprehended by the morality police for allegedly breaching the country's dress restrictions.
The troubled nation has rolled out death penalties and other harsh punishments for some of those protesters over recent weeks, stirring international outrage from the west.
Tehran closes offices and educational centers due to gas shortages in the face of cold wave
January 13, 2023
The Iranian government has ordered the closure of almost all offices and educational centers in the capital, Tehran, due to the shortage of gas supplies to protect against the cold wave that is ravaging the country.
To save energy, all ministries, institutional headquarters, schools, institutes and universities will remain closed this Saturday, according to the office of the deputy governor, Qadratullah Shafiqi, in a statement reported by the Iranian state broadcaster, IRIB.
Only banks and emergency
services will remain open, the statement added.
According to the Iranian Oil Ministry, gas consumption has recently increased by around 30 percent compared to the same period last year. To overcome the "critical situation", the authorities have called on the population to exercise self-restraint.
According to the DPA agency, the measures have been strongly criticized by the population, outraged by the fact that a country like Iran, which has the second largest gas reserves in the world, has been unable to combat a cold snap.
Iran has huge oil and gas reserves, but the infrastructure of the facilities is outdated. Due to international sanctions, the government of President Ebrahim Raisi does not have enough money to expand and renovate the facilities.
The antidote to the Iranian regime is Big Tech
January 13, 2023
On Jan. 5, Meta’s WhatsApp announced it was launching a proxy server to help users bypass government internet shutdowns, calling the move a means of “putting the power into people’s hands.” The app is currently banned in several countries, including China, North Korea, Syria, Qatar, and, most recently, Iran.
WhatsApp’s update was partly in response to severe internet crackdowns in Iran following anti-government protests over Mahsa Amini’s death in September. But Iran is no stranger to digital authoritarianism; the regime has long relied on this repressive tactic to crack down on protest mobilization efforts and stifle the free flow of information within and outside the country. WhatsApp’s new feature sets an important precedent for how Big Tech and U.S. policymakers can support the Iranian people in their fight for freedom.
Over the last four months of demonstrations in Iran, protesters have relied on the internet to help keep the movement alive; social media platforms are used to mobilize crowds on the streets, document violence by regime security forces, update families on the status of loved ones, and even make international appeals to save citizens in danger of execution. As with previous rounds of civil unrest, Iran has responded by ordering nationwide internet disruptions, shutting down mobile networks, and cutting access to social media platforms. Twitter and Facebook have been banned since 2009, but current protests have since led to restrictions on both WhatsApp and Instagram.
WhatsApp’s proxy server would enable protesters to send personal messages with end-to-end encryptions that make them inaccessible to external parties (even Meta itself!) keeping their connection securely out of the hands of the regime. And while WhatsApp’s update is a critical step for combatting regime censorship, it’s not enough. Big Tech players must advance their efforts to protect the Iranian people’s digital lifeline.
Other messaging apps—like Signal, which unsuccessfully tried introducing proxies to Iranians in September—should integrate their proxy servers into its messenger; companies offering virtual private networks that help bypass internet crackdowns should waive their fees; major service providers, such as Google and Microsoft, should reinstate domain fronting practices, a technique that allows apps to disguise user traffic; and all social media platforms should ensure that their foreign-language content moderation teams are investing in services that accurately and fairly protect against disinformation. (Opponents of data obfuscation tools fear its abuse by malignant actors, and some tech companies have responded by implementing enhanced security measures.)
And while the Biden administration’s response to the protest movement has been mediocre at best, it’s important to give credit where it’s due. In September, the U.S. Department of Treasury amended sanctions guidance that significantly cut off the Iranian people’s access to Western platforms and circumvention software. The effects of these sanctions were particularly harmful during internet shutdowns that limited people’s online connectivity options to state-controlled services. With these changes, however, tech companies have no excuse for not securing the free flow of information in Iran.
What the regime fears most is its own people revealing the truth about the human rights violations taking place inside Iran. And with limited on-the-ground coverage, it is all the more vital that tech companies and policymakers work together to protect the Iranian people’s ability to make their voices heard. As the old adage goes, information is power—and we must use our own power to keep it in the right hands.
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