THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:30 PM CET
Iran Uprising at a Glance – Day 131
Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran
Monday, January 23, 2023 – 8 PM GMT + 1
- Days: 131
- Protests: 282 cities
- Fatalities: 750+ estimated deaths, 637 identified by MEK
- Detentions: 30,000
Iran’s nationwide uprising marked its 131st day on Tuesday as cities across Iran witnessed more protests in the forms of workers demanding their rights holding gatherings and going on strike, night rallies with locals in different parts of Tehran and other cities chanting anti-regime slogans, and defiant youth targeting the regime’s sites and symbols.
Today, the defiant youth targeted at least 17 different suppressive IRGC and the paramilitary Basij centers, banners, and posters of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and the eliminated Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
January 24 – Tehran, #Iran
Art students held a gathering protesting harsh sentences issued by the campus Regulations Committee against their fellow classmates.#IranRevoIution #مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/c18YENB6VL— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 24, 2023
Last night in Tehran, chants of “Death to Khamenei, death to the dictator” echoed across many districts.
In the capital Tehran, Art students held a gathering protesting harsh sentences issued by the campus Regulations Committee against their fellow classmates.
Also in Tehran, family members of death row inmates rallied outside the regime’s judiciary building protesting the death sentences and demanding answers from regime officials.
January 24 – Tehran, #Iran
Family members of death row inmates rallied outside the regime's judiciary building protesting the death sentences and demanding answers from regime officials.#StopExecutionsInIran #مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/hvW8egZg0e— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 24, 2023
In Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan Province, southeast Iran, regime authorities imposed tight security measures at the entrances leading to the capital of Sistan & Baluchistan Province, activists say.
Zahedan, southeast #Iran
Regime authorities are imposing tight security measures at the entrances leading to the capital of Sistan & Baluchestan Province, activists say.#IranRevoIution #مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چە_شاە_باشه_چە_رهبر pic.twitter.com/iztdxFJKWF— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 24, 2023
In Bampour in the same Province, locals clashed with the suppressive State Security Force during which an SSF Major and a 3rd Lieutenant were killed and a Sergeant Major was wounded.
In Sardasht, northwest Iran, three brothers were hospitalized after being shot and wounded by IRGC units earlier this morning.
January 24 – Sardasht, northwest #Iran
Footage of the three Hamzeh brothers in a local hospital after being shot at and injured by IRGC units earlier this morning.#BlacklistIRGC #IRGCterorrists pic.twitter.com/23mcIOZbsc— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 24, 2023
In Tabriz, northwest Iran, expelled workers of the Shirin Asal Food Industrial Group gathered outside the Labor Department of East Azerbaijan Province demanding answers.
January 24 – Tabriz, northwest #Iran
Expelled workers of the Shirin Asal Food Industrial Group gathered outside the Labor Department of East Azerbaijan Province demanding answers.#IranProtests2023 #مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چە_شاە_باشه_چە_رهبر pic.twitter.com/YVOvC95iWA— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 24, 2023
In Meshginshahr, Ardabil Province, northwest Iran, a long line of vehicles was formed before a CNG station further illustrating the regime’s corruption and incompetence in providing badly needed gas by locals in the cold winter.
There were also severe gas shortages in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, southeast Iran, and in Arak, central Iran, where some schools did not have gas for heating. The students were forced to use blankets in their classrooms.
Severe gas shortages in Sistan & Baluchestan Province, southeast #Iran #مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/taXgvPRx4b
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 24, 2023
UPDATE: 7:00 PM CET
Treasury Sanctions Key Hizballah Money Exchanger
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating several individuals and associated entities for facilitating financial activities for Hizballah. At the center of this network is Lebanese money exchanger and so-called financial expert Hassan Moukalled, who plays a key role in enabling Hizballah to continue to exploit and exacerbate Lebanon’s economic crisis. Treasury is also designating CTEX Exchange, a money service business owned by Hassan Moukalled, in addition to Hassan Moukalled’s sons, Rayyan Moukalled and Rani Moukalled, who facilitate Hassan Moukalled and his company’s financial activities in support of Hizballah.
UPDATE: 11:00 AM CET
IRGC Remains Designated as Foreign Terrorist Organization- US DOS Spox
At his daily press briefing, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said on January 23: “The IRGC remains designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization, and a specially designated global terrorist. We’ve also sanctioned many IRGC leaders individually for their involvement in terrorism and human rights abuses. You mentioned the latest tranche of human rights sanctions that we announced in conjunction with many of our closest partners earlier today.”
We applaud the EU’s recent designations of IRGC officials and entities for their involvement in providing drones to Russia which are being used to fuel Russia’s unconscionable attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Our European allies recognize the threat, the challenges posed by the IRGC and Iran more broadly. We have enjoyed exceptionally close cooperation and coordination with Europe on confronting these challenges.
In coordination with the UK and @EUCouncil, we designated 10 additional Iranian officials and an entity connected to the suppression of peaceful protests. We will continue to impose costs on Iranian authorities connected to this brutal crackdown in Iran. https://t.co/BCy0m0JhG2
— Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) January 23, 2023
Treasury Sanctions the IRGC Cooperative Foundation and Senior Iranian Officials Connected to Protest Suppression
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative Foundation and five of its board members, the Deputy Minister of Intelligence and Security, and four senior IRGC commanders in Iran under human rights authorities. Today’s action, in coordination with both the United Kingdom and European Union, targets a key economic pillar of the IRGC, which funds much of the regime’s brutal suppression; as well as senior security officials coordinating Tehran’s crackdown at the national and provincial levels.
“The United States remains committed to supporting the Iranian people in their demands for human rights and other fundamental freedoms,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Along with our partners, we will continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable so long as it relies upon violence, sham trials, the execution of protestors, and other means of suppressing its people.”
UK Imposes Further Coordinated Sanctions on Iranian Regime Officials
The UK is placing further sanctions on regime officials in Iran today, including on Deputy Prosecutor General Ahmad Fazelian.
These sanctions, alongside designations by the European Union and the United States, demonstrate the international community’s unified condemnation of the horrific violence the Iranian regime is inflicting on its own people, including the execution of dual British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari.
Alongside the Prosecutor General in Iran, whom the UK sanctioned last week, Fazelian is responsible for a judicial system characterised by unfair trials and egregious punishments, including use of the death penalty for political purposes. Last week Alireza Akbari tragically became a victim of this brutal system.
UPDATE: 8:30 AM CET
Birth Certificates a Tool To Suppress Iran’s Minorities
The Iranian regime is increasing its pressure on ethnic minorities. Over the past 5 months, since a new round of protests started, Iran’s Baluch and Kurdish citizens are facing some of the worst attacks and violations.
This repression is being mainly implemented by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij forces. Iran has several minority groups who are mostly based in the provinces near the country’s borders. Iranian Arabs live close to the border of Iraq, Kurds are living in the northwest, known as Iranian Kurdistan, and Baluchis are mostly based in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Dr. Ayda Rostami, State Agents Prevent Her 40-Day Memorial Ceremony
The people of Gorgan participated in the 40-day memorial for Dr. Ayda Rostami despite a brutal attack by security and plainclothes agents.
Friday morning, January 20, 2023, people gathered in Imamzadeh Abdullah cemetery of Gorgan. However, the clerical regime’s repressive forces attacked and brutalized them, arresting several participants. In this way, they prevented the memorial ceremony for Dr. Ayda Rostami. According to social media reports, Dr. Ayda Rostami’s brother was among those arrested in the cemetery.
Baloch Citizen Ebrahim Narouei Under the Shadow of Execution
Ebrahim Narouei is a 25-year-old Baluch citizen from Zahedan and was born on July 16, 1988. He was arrested by Iran’s plainclothes forces during nationwide protests on October 3, 2022, in Zahedan and sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary on the charge of Moharebeh (War on God).
Ebrahim Narouei, son of Gol Khan and a resident of the Old Road area in Zahedan, was arrested at his resident. After a week of brutal torture in the detention center, security forces made him confess to things he had not done. They covered his eyes and forced him to sign documents with his fingerprints. He had not read any of the signed documents. He was charged with Moharebeh by Branch 6 of the Revolutionary Court of Zahedan without an appointed lawyer and sentenced to death.
Stuttgart and Bremen—January 21, 2023: MEK Supporters Rally in Solidarity With the Iran Revolution, and Commemorating the Day January 20
Stuttgart and Bremen—January 21, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people’s uprising.
Rome, Italy—January 21, 2023: MEK Supporters Rally in Solidarity With the Iran Revolution
Rome, Italy—January 21, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally and exhibition in “Porta del Popolo” in solidarity with the Iranian people’s uprising.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands—January 21, 2023: MEK Supporters Rally in Solidarity With the Iran Revolution
Amsterdam, the Netherlands—January 21, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people’s uprising.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – January 23, 2023
