THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 10:30 PM CET
Sunday Protests in Iran
Today, retired steelworkers in Isfahan and Khuzestan provinces held protest rallies to call on the officials to address their demands.
Also today, wounded veterans of the 8-year-old war between Iran-Iraq held a protest rally in front of the Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation in Tehran on the second day of their protest. The anti-riot police unit was dispatched to confront these protestors on Taleghani Street and tried to prevent the gathering from spreading and getting out of control.
January 9 – Tehran, #Iran
Authorities dispatched anti-riot units to confront veterans who fought in the 1980s Iran-Iraq War protesting for their pensions.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/doYdMlfRzX— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 9, 2022
Workers and employees of the justice department in several cities joined the protest movement to call out the regime for its discrimination and unfair wages.
January 9 – Tehran, #Iran
Justice Dept. employees rallying outside the regime's Majlis (parliament) for better pay and answers to their long-raised demands.
They're chanting:
"Liar! Shame on you!" to Majlis speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/O8gORhc8RW— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 9, 2022
January 9 – Yazd, central #Iran
Justice Department employees rallying for better pay.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/mEkmvSZ29G— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 9, 2022
January 9 – Isfahan, central #Iran
Justice Department employees rallying for better pay.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/Ln0OttHjcl— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 9, 2022
January 8 – Karaj, west of Tehran, #Iran
Justice Department employees rallying for better pay.
Chants:
"The government betrays it and the Majlis (parliament) supports them!"#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/sLxvhYdgmW— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 9, 2022
UPDATE: 10:00 PM CET
Iran’s Hand-made Carpet Production Industry Is Severely Hit
A member of the board of directors of the state-affiliated Carpet Union said: “In 1994, about 40% of the country’s non-oil exports were the sale of carpets. But its downward trend has become worrying, especially in recent years.”
Admitting the migration of the country’s carpet designers to Turkey, the official added: “Since last year, Iran’s hand-made carpet exports dropped from $2 billion to $60 million.”
Land Subsidence in Tehran has Become a Time Bomb, Officials Warn
“District 19, parts of District 16 and District 20, District 17, as well as Districts 9, 10 and 18 are areas that are affected by subsidence. Also, the city of Rey and Baharestan Square are gradually becoming prone to land subsidence,” Mehdi Zare, a state-affiliated expert told Fars news agency.
Mohammad Aghamiri, a member of the Tehran City Council also warned: “If we don’t think of something fundamentally, we’ll witness collapses of 10 to 15 meters in the city of Tehran. So far the subsidence is intermittent and insubstantial, but this will soon intensify as we consume groundwater resources relentlessly. The groundwater level has reached a depth of 140 meters, and as this trend continues, we will see gaps of a thousand meters in the streets or in the middle of a neighborhood or an urban house.”
Aghamiri added: “The spread of land subsidence in an urban environment will severely damage the city’s infrastructure (gas and water pipes) and a collapse will be very dangerous. This is exactly what happens if an earthquake strikes Tehran. If we don’t do anything about this, many areas of Tehran will not be habitable for another 10 years.”
UPDATE: 5:00 PM CET
Iranian Regime Shot Down PS752 Deliberately, Former Official Reveals
Asadi Lari, the Iranian regime’s former deputy minister of health said that the Ukrainian airliner PS752 was shut down deliberately by the Revolutionary Guards on January 8, 2020, to prevent an American retaliation campaign after the IRGC missile attacks against the U.S forces at al-Asad Airbase in Iraq.
In a video that was posted on social media, Lari who lost his son and daughter in this tragedy is shown saying: “They hit this passenger plane because they wanted to blame the United States to avoid the war. They have done this before. They tell that if this plane wasn’t shut down, America would strike.”
UPDATE: 4:30 PM CET
Funeral Turns into Political Demonstration Against the Regime
Today, the funeral of political prisoner Baktash Abtin at Imamzadeh Abdullah in the city of Rey, Southern Tehran, turned into a political demonstration. Under strict security measures and despite the regime’s surveilance, the participants condemned the state’s deliberate negligence that led to the death of this political prisoner who was deprived of medical treatment after he contracted Covid-19 for the second time. During the funeral, people started chanting:
“Death to Khamenei!”
“From Sultanpour to Abtin, Death to the oppressors!”
“Peace be upon Abtin, death to the oppressors!”
“We came here to fight, so let’s fight!”
Baktash Abtin was an Iranian poet, writer, and filmmaker who was imprisoned by the regime’s judiciary under charges of ‘propaganda against the state’ and ‘actions against national security’. Saeed Soltanpour was a political poet and playwright who was executed by the clerical regime on 26 July 1981.
UPDATE: 10:30 AM CET
Iran: Justice Department Employees Hold Protest
On Saturday, the Justice Department employees in Tehran rallied outside the regime’s Majlis (parliament) demanding better pay and answers to their long-raised demands.
They chanted “Liar! Shame on you!” to Majlis speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
January 9 – Tehran, #Iran
Justice Dept. employees rallying outside the regime's Majlis (parliament) for better pay and answers to their long-raised demands.
They're chanting:
"Liar! Shame on you!" to Majlis speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/O8gORhc8RW— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 9, 2022
Iranian Officials Admit That People Hate the Ruling Mullahs
The people of Iran are fed up with four decades of tyrannical rule by the mullahs. And Iranian officials are openly expressing their fear of public outrage toward the mullahs.
Iran: Regime Is Directly Responsible for Baktash Abtin’s Death
Iran: Coronavirus Death Toll Exceeds 496,100 Omicron Spreads in 21 Provinces
Read more: Iran News in Brief – January 8, 2022