{"id":6984,"date":"2018-08-25T08:48:39","date_gmt":"2018-08-25T06:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=6984"},"modified":"2018-08-25T09:13:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-25T07:13:34","slug":"iran-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/reports\/2018\/08\/iran-21\/6984\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday\u2019s Iran Events \u2013 August 25, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Iran<\/p>\n

U.S. official says EU aid for Iran sends \u2018wrong message\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (Reuters) \u2013 The top U.S. envoy on Iran criticized a European Union decision to give $20.7 million (\u00a316.12 million) in aid to Tehran on Friday, saying it sent \u201cthe wrong message at the wrong time,\u201d and he urged Brussels to help Washington end the Iranian threat to global stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cForeign aid from European taxpayers perpetuates the regime\u2019s ability to neglect the needs of its people and stifles meaningful policy changes,\u201d Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranian people face very real economic pressures caused by their government\u2019s corruption, mismanagement, and deep investment in terrorism and foreign conflicts,\u201d he added. \u201cThe United States and the European Union should be working together instead to find lasting solutions that truly support Iran\u2019s people and end the regime\u2019s threats to regional and global stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siemens turns its back on Iran<\/a><\/p>\n

German industrial manufacturing giant Siemens said it was scaling back its Iran<\/a> business after the reimposition of economic sanctions by the United States.<\/p>\n

The Munich-based company explained it would take appropriate steps \u201cto bring business activities in Iran in line with the changing multilateral situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siemens said it would continue to ensure compliance with all export restrictions and regulations \u201cincluding US secondary sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Iran\"<\/p>\n

Volunteers found Iran\u2019s propaganda effort on Reddit \u2014 but their warnings were ignored<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Iran\"<\/p>\n

EU Prioritises Nuclear Deal Over Human Rights in Iran<\/a><\/p>\n

The European Union claimed last week to attach \u201chigh importance\u201d to the human rights situation in Iran, but their actions (or more accurately inaction) tell a different story.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 even though they are only required by the deal to suspend nuclear sanctions \u2013 and has only offered sporadic and low-key expressions of solidarity.<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Iran\"<\/p>\n

Iranian Journalist Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison For Criticizing Ultra-Conservative Cleric in a Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

Amir Mohammad Hossein Miresmaili, a former journalist and satirist for the Jahan Sana\u2019at (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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many objections to the ruling against my client,\u201d his lawyer Hossein Ahmadiniaz told the state-funded Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was trying to criticize officials within the framework of satire but unfortunately, his words have been taken as insults,\u201d he added. \u201cI believe the government should show tolerance and understand the nature of satire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miresmaili was arrested at Tehran\u2019s 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\u2019t be allowed to dance in public.<\/p>\n

\"Iran\"<\/p>\n

UK universities among 76 targeted by hackers<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s correct address.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The group, called Cobalt Dickens, shares infrastructure with the perpetrators of this new attack. CTU analysis suggests they could be behind this attack too.<\/p>\n

Mr Pilling said: \u201cWhen that happened the estimated damage to universities was $3.4bn (\u00a32.6bn).<\/p>\n

\"Iran\"<\/p>\n