Iran
U.S. official says EU aid for Iran sends ‘wrong message’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top U.S. envoy on Iran criticized a European Union decision to give $20.7 million (£16.12 million) in aid to Tehran on Friday, saying it sent “the wrong message at the wrong time,” and he urged Brussels to help Washington end the Iranian threat to global stability.
“Foreign aid from European taxpayers perpetuates the regime’s ability to neglect the needs of its people and stifles meaningful policy changes,” Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, said in a statement.
“The Iranian people face very real economic pressures caused by their government’s corruption, mismanagement, and deep investment in terrorism and foreign conflicts,” he added. “The United States and the European Union should be working together instead to find lasting solutions that truly support Iran’s people and end the regime’s threats to regional and global stability.”
Siemens turns its back on Iran
German industrial manufacturing giant Siemens said it was scaling back its Iran business after the reimposition of economic sanctions by the United States.
The Munich-based company explained it would take appropriate steps “to bring business activities in Iran in line with the changing multilateral situation.”
Siemens said it would continue to ensure compliance with all export restrictions and regulations “including US secondary sanctions.”
Volunteers found Iran’s propaganda effort on Reddit — but their warnings were ignored
More than a year before Facebook and Twitter announced that they had discovered a new foreign influence campaign tied to Iranian state media, a group of volunteer moderators on Reddit noticed a peculiar pattern of submissions.
Some Reddit users were repeatedly posting divisive political rhetoric from a group of obscure news websites. That effort led a Reddit moderator from California named Alex Brown and a small team of volunteers to investigate. Using publicly available data about who started the news websites, they were able to find evidence of a wide-ranging propaganda network across the social news site with ties to Iran.
EU Prioritises Nuclear Deal Over Human Rights in Iran
The European Union claimed last week to attach “high importance” to the human rights situation in Iran, but their actions (or more accurately inaction) tell a different story.
In just over 18 months, the U.S. administration has issued fresh sanctions against 17 notable human rights abusers in Iran and repeatedly expressed clear and strong support for the popular anti-regime uprising that began in December.
The EU, on the other hand, has imposed no new human rights sanctions against any individuals in Iran since the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal – even though they are only required by the deal to suspend nuclear sanctions – and has only offered sporadic and low-key expressions of solidarity.
The reason for this passive response from the EU, reflects its failure to recognise that the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), does not allow Europe to address non-nuclear issues with Iran (i.e. human rights).
The EU is more concerned with protecting the JCPOA than real-life Iranian people. Why else would they wait days before issuing a statement about the protests in late 2017 that appeared to blame both sides for the violence? To be clear, in issues of human rights and oppression; there are only a right and a wrong side.
Amir Mohammad Hossein Miresmaili, a former journalist and satirist for the Jahan Sana’at (Industry World) newspaper in Iran, has been sentenced to a decade in prison after allegedly disparaging a Shia imam in a tweet aimed at criticizing an ultra-conservative cleric in Iran.
Branch 1060 of the Government Workers Court in Tehran handed down the sentence on August 19, 2018. Miresmaili was also banned from media activities for two years as well as prohibited from traveling abroad for two years.
“There are many objections to the ruling against my client,” his lawyer Hossein Ahmadiniaz told the state-funded Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).
“He was trying to criticize officials within the framework of satire but unfortunately, his words have been taken as insults,” he added. “I believe the government should show tolerance and understand the nature of satire.”
Miresmaili was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport a day after he tweeted the tongue-in-cheek criticism of Ahmad Alamolhoda, the ultra-conservative Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, for declaring that children shouldn’t be allowed to dance in public.
UK universities among 76 targeted by hackers
A hacking group linked to Iran could be behind an attack which targeted dozens of universities in 14 countries including the UK in an attempt to steal student credentials.
Researchers from the Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) discovered spoof URL pages for several universities, which would ask victims to enter their login details before bouncing them to their institution’s correct address.
Rafe Pilling, a senior researcher for CTU, told Sky News it follows a very similar case in which nine Iranian nationals were charged with cyber theft in March.
The group, called Cobalt Dickens, shares infrastructure with the perpetrators of this new attack. CTU analysis suggests they could be behind this attack too.
Mr Pilling said: “When that happened the estimated damage to universities was $3.4bn (£2.6bn).
- Amnesty International calls for urgent action for the release of Iranian Christians sentenced to imprisonment for practicing their religious faith.
URGENT ACTION
CHRISTIANS SENTENCED FOR PRACTICING THEIR FAITH
Iranian Christians, Victor Bet-Tamraz, his wife Shamiram Issavi, Amin Afshar-Naderi and Hadi Asgari, have been sentenced to a combined total of 45 years in prison solely for practising their Christian faith, including through attending Christmas gatherings and organizing house churches. If imprisoned, they would be prisoners of conscience. Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz and Shamiram Issavi, ethnic Assyrian Christians, and Amin Afshar-Naderi and Hadi Asgari, Christian converts, have been sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison. They have been targeted solely for peacefully practicing their Christian faith. The authorities have cited peaceful activities such as holding private Christmas gatherings, organizing and conducting house churches, and travelling outside Iran to attend Christian seminars, as “illegal church activities” which “threaten national security” in order justify their convictions. The individuals, who are all currently free on bail, are awaiting the verdict of the appeal court.
