THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 10:00 PM CEST
Unrest in Society Has Sounded the Alarm for Insiders
On Wednesday, June 15, a staged meeting of the regime’s Vice President Mohammad Mokhber with a carefully handpicked crowd from the paramilitary Basij forces ended up as another embarrassment for the regime.
According to the state-run Daneshjoo news agency, members of the Basij who were supposed to embrace the Vice President with flattery, started criticizing the government of Ebrahim Raisi.
“The government’s economic policies show that their red line is not the people’s table, rather it is leaning money from the central bank,” Zeynab Shavandi, one of the Basij-affiliated students told Mokhber. “Believe me, the consequences of withdrawing money from the central bank are less than the rising inflation that comes from the elimination of the state-preferred currency rate.”
“I wish the government’s media team would stop making subtle documentaries about the meeting between the president and the people and instead, they should be persuading the public opinion about the consequences of the government’s decisions. Persuading public opinion doesn’t mean simply having a one-sided tribune on the radio and television,” she said, warning that “we are now talking about the falling of millions of people below the poverty line.”
UPDATE: 3:30 PM CEST
Iranian Teachers Protest Across the Country
Once again, the cry of Iranian teachers’ demanding their rights & the freedom of imprisoned teachers echoed across the country. #Iranprotests and strikes by teachers, retirees, workers, and Bazaar merchants has caused panic in the clerical regime. pic.twitter.com/9xJNpByONl
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) June 16, 2022
This morning, Thursday, June 16, teachers and educators held large gatherings and rallies in Tehran as well as in dozens of other Iranian cities, including Mashhad, Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Rasht, Karaj, Sari, and Zanjan.
The protestors chanted slogans such as “Death to Raisi”, “Imprisoned teacher must be released”, “Teachers rise up to end discrimination”, “Educators rather die but won’t accept humiliation” and “Despite all the fuss, where is the result of your promises?”
Despite state security forces being on high alert and although many activists have been arrested in the last few days, the rally in Tehran was held in front of the regime’s parliament, while in other cities, teachers gathered in front of the offices of state officials. In Tehran, security forces and the anti-riot police were widely present in front of the regime’s parliament to prevent the rally. According to some accounts, several teachers were arrested at the scene.
UPDATE: 10:30 AM CEST
Iran Is Struggling with 115% Inflation, Economist Says
Vahid Shaghaghi Shahri, a state-affiliated economist told the Eghtesad-e-Pouia newspaper on June 14: “You cannot tie the soaring prices with elections. The problem is rooted in the last decade when we had a 24% inflation in the country. In the last three years, our country has had 115% inflation, and this has increased the prices of various goods in the country.”
He added: “The prices of assets such as land, housing, gold, and cars have increased due to the increase in the price of the dollar, and gradually the prices of goods and services have also increased.”
Vahid Shaghaghi also stated: “When liquidity is growing by 2,500 on a daily basis and our products rely on foreign exchange instead of domestic production, these two reasons increase the price of basic goods these days. Even though bread does not depend on foreign exchanges but a baker lives in this society and he has to pay the expenses. This will lead to more soaring prices and more poverty, but as long as we fail to have real domestic production, these things will be obvious.”
UPDATE: 9:30 AM CEST
Retirees and Shop Owners Continue Strikes, Protests in Several Iranian Cities
Retirees and pensioners of the Social Security Organization returned to the streets on Wednesday, June 15, for the ninth consecutive day of protest rallies against the government’s destructive polices and lack of response to their outstanding demands regarding low wages and pensions, insurance issues, and poor living conditions. Protests were reported in Tehran, Ahvaz, Dorud, Kermanshah, Shush, and other cities. Retirees and pensioners have been holding regular protests as their living conditions continue to deteriorate because of the nosediving economic conditions, escalating inflation, and skyrocketing prices of food staples, including bread, milk, dairy products, eggs, poultry, and cooking oil.
Iran: SDG2, What Are the Prospects for Zero Hunger?
This time, we’re going to explore the NCRI Women’s Committee report to the UN Beijing +26 summit. This 300-page report comes in nine chapters and reviews the conduct of the Iranian regime 26 years after the Beijing Conference on Women’s rights.
We aim to review the parts of this report covering the Iranian regime’s measures concerning the Second Sustainable Development Goal of the UN, known as SDG2.
In the Qarchak torture chamber, women are deprived of water, air, and healthy food
The notorious Qarchak Prison is the only women-only prison in Iran and the detention center for at least 2,000 women. This prison was a disused industrial chicken farm. Initially, it did not have the standards for a prison. The lives and health of all prisoners are in danger in the Qarchak torture chamber in Varamin. “This is the end of the world,” In other words, it is a place of torture, exile, and murder of women.
Women prisoners in Qarchak are deprived of the three vital elements for every human being: water, air, and healthy food. The Qarchak torture chamber is used as an exile for political prisoners.
Iranian Activists Call for the Release of 74-Year-old Political Prisoner
More than 200 political and civil activists and journalists signed a statement calling for the release of Keyvan Samimi, freedom of speech and thought advocate, journalist, and political prisoner.
In their statement, they said that the regime’s “inhumane treatment” of Keyvan Samimi was “attempting gradual murder.”
Jailed Activist Denied Visits for Letter on Executions in Rajai Shahr Prison
Authorities have banned political prisoner Saeed Eghbali from visits because of an open letter he wrote about executions in Rajai Shahr Prison.
Saeed Eghbali’s mother went to Rajai Shahr Prison to visit her son today but was not allowed to see him. According to an informed source, under the pressure of the Ministry of Intelligence, the political prisoner was deprived of face-to-face visits for three months and regular visits for a month.
Conference in Revigliasco, Turin, Italy in Support of the Iranian Resistance
On Wednesday, June 8, 2022, a meeting was held in the city of Revigliasco, Turin, Italy, entitled “Religious Government and Human Rights in Iran” in collaboration with the Cultural and Human Rights Associations: International Help, Proloco Revigliasco, Free and Democratic Iran, and Amnesty International’s branch in the Province of Piedmont.
Read more: Iran News in Brief – June 15, 2022
