20 years ago today, Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra ‘Ziba’ Kazemi was beaten to death by the IRI in Evin prison. She was detained after taking photos of street demonstrations in front of Evin. She was tortured and raped for 19 days before they killed her.
Je me souviens.
Actress Kowsar Eftekhari still walking the streets of Iran defiantly without hijab, after losing an eye and being arrested, charged and harassed for protesting for “Woman, Life, Freedom”. #مهسا_امينی #کوثر_افتخاری
Before commenting on who the Dutch PM is meeting, please explain how the regime you represent has managed to murder and torture hundreds of children since September?
Grateful to
@AlinejadMasih
and anyone who gets under the skin of this child killing regime.
Those who happened to watch videos of Alinejad’s meeting with the
@MinPres
were shocked to see how the PM was played in the hands of a petty person, how she "prepared (manipulated) him" before the press interview,... 1/2
Absolutely horrifying past several days of repression against women in Iran. A bus full of women rounded up by morality police, heard being tasered in this video.
.
@YouTube
invited Nina Navid & I to commemorate the legacy and life of Sarina Esmaeilzadeh who would have turned 17 on July 2nd had the Islamic Republic not killed her for protesting for
#WomanLifeFreedom
.
Happy Birthday, Sarina.
@AmnestyUK
@article19org
Heartbreaking repeat in history: Armita Garawand in the special care department of Fajr hospital, unconscious after beaten on the metro by morality police for not wearing hijab.
#ArmitaGarawand
#MahsaAmini
With pain and hope, happy Nowruz from Mashala Karami, the father of 21 year old Karate champion Mohammad Mehdi Karami executed by the Islamic Republic for his involvement in the Jhina (Mahsa) Amini uprising. #محمدمهدی_کرمی
#Mohammad_Mehdi_Karami
#ژینا_امینی #مهسا_امينی
It’s hard to believe a country would have both a key minister and a president in the same helicopter in such a precarious conditions. But then you remember the real foreign ministry is in the IRGC and the real presidential power is with the SL and it all makes sense.
Extremely frightening situation for Iranian activist Shilan Mirzaee in Turkey who is about to be deported back to Iran where she can face execution for her activism.
“she was told verbally by the Turkish police that "Iran wants you and we are going to hand you over to them".”
An Iranian activist based in Turkey is in danger of imminent deportation to Iran, where she could face torture, interrogation, a lengthy sentence, and even capital punishment.
Shilan Mirzaee managed to record this video before being taken away.
👉
Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has finally been banned from Meta platforms: his English and Persian accounts on IG and FB. He was removed for promoting organisations such as Hamas and the Houthis who are listed on Meta’s Dangerous Organisations and Individuals list.
UN Fact Finding Mission on Iran has released it's findings today and concluded institutional discrimination against women and girls enabled human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the context of recent "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests.
It’s truly the golden hour of Persian twitter today as Iranians digest the possible (and most likely) helicopter death of a murderer/“President” in the full scale of its karmic catharsis. Some highlights.
There’s countless Persian language memes and jokes about the helicopter crash and President Ebrahim Raisi’s possible death.
“Mojtaba Khamenei: I won”
Mojtaba (Khamenei’s son) and Raisi are widely believed to be top choices for Supreme Leader.
Iranian women are risking everything to remove hijab &fight IRI’s injustices. Leila Asiafar tweeted about her commitment to continue this fight and yesterday authorities arrested her in her home and posted footage of it to scare other women out of dissent.
Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the murder of Jhina Mahsa Amini.
A look back freedoms online Iran in this new Tightening the Net briefing
@article19org
.
An important message on
#InternationalWomensDay
by Narges Mohamadi from Evin prison , a woman who has spent over two decades fighting for women and rights in Iran.
She writes:
Take over the streets with feminist icons on women's day
#زن_زندکی_آزادی
#ژن_ژیان_آزادی
#IWD23
1/6
For the 10 yr anniversary of Take Me To Church
@hozier
explained the song lyrics to
@Genius
and talked about Sarina Esmailzadeh's viral video of singing along to it a few months before she was beaten to death for bravely protesting for Woman, Life, Freedom. #سارینا_اسماعیل_زاده
I wanted to make sure we give a shoutout to the behind the scenes
@article19org
Afsaneh Rigot who pushed for this through vital research especially from incredibly resilient MENA queer communities navigating the increasing policing of queer identity and online communications. 1/4
There are a variety of reasons and considerations to why you might want to limit the visibility of particular apps on your phone for ease of mind. If you are
@SignalApp
user you can now customize the look of the app icon, which is amazing boost to your privacy and security. You
Yesterday, the European Union updated its list of sanctioned entities in Iran. They removed Iranian tech company Abr Arvan. Their role in being complicit in digital repression used by the state in facilitating human rights abuses has been well documented.
Iran International is reporting the controversial Iranian tech company, Abr Arvan, with documented cooperation with the state in various digital repression tactics, is being removed from the EU sanctions list after being added in November 2022.
"We need your help...Do not allow them to kill us."
Three men -Saeid Yaghoubi, Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi- at imminent risk of execution in Iran sent a note from prison. Read below.
#خانه_اصفهان #مجید_کاظمی #سعید_یعقوبی #صالح_میرهاشمی #نذارید_ما_را_بکشند
This was a beautifully told story by
@DariusBazargan
. So glad
@FreeNazanin
and
@FreeAnoosheh
are safely back with their families in the UK. The fight continues for the u justly kept other dual nationals and thousands of political prisoners held by the Islamic Republic.
"I am a woman and I am a mother. What they are putting me through is outrageous."
Exclusive, unseen footage for
@Channel4
shows the personal conversations and phone calls between Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband Richard over her six years in an Iranian jail.
#C4Nazanin
A happy
#Nowruz
to everyone. As this holiday dictates, there is much hope, which I tried to include in my statement today at UN Human Rights Council.
May freedom and justice be closer than ever, especially to the people of Iran who have fought and sacrificed so courageously.
Today at
#HRC52
we asked to council to stand with the people of Iran as human rights conditions worsen as the Special Rapporteur
@JavaidRehman
has indicated the possible commission of crimes against humanity have occurred since September.
@maasalan
Yesterday I saw the IRI delegation happily taking photos with the UN alley of flags. This was after disparaging reports of killing 100s including children as lies. Jarring to see these IRI men embrace symbols of the international community which they treat with such contempt.
Looking forward to speaking on stage 2 today at
@republica
#rp3
3pm Berlin, discussing the role of technology during the “Women, Life, Freedom” revolution in Iran. #مهسا_امينى
@article19org
@oiioxford
Sarina Esmailzadeh's
@YouTube
page is found with the username sarinacmz4015 here:
For her birthday, and to further enrage her murderers as her legacy and life continues, it would be nice if her subscribers and views increased. 🫶
.
@YouTube
invited Nina Navid & I to commemorate the legacy and life of Sarina Esmaeilzadeh who would have turned 17 on July 2nd had the Islamic Republic not killed her for protesting for
#WomanLifeFreedom
.
Happy Birthday, Sarina.
@AmnestyUK
@article19org
These brave imprisoned women are doing more than the international community to bring attention to the absolute crisis of impunity and terror the Islamic Republic is committing. Please speak up, the next protest related execution is expected to be any day.
This is a must read from
@KhosroKalbasi
on the role of the Queer community in Iran through the historic protests against the tyranny of the Islamic Republic since the murder of Mahsa Jhina Amini
Iran
#LGBTQ
community has been on the forefront of "
#WomenLifeFreedom
revolution". I've had the honour to interview some of the bravest members of my community on the ground who despite threats of execution are fighting for our rights. #مهسا_امینی
Really recommend
@nahid8
’s new series “Women, Life, Freedom: All in on Iran” from
@UTAustin
. She interviews one of the social movement academics I grew up reading and learning from, Asef Bayat. Highly recommend.
Important read by
@PeterGuest
about the lack of action by tech companies to reduce the online harms of the Islamic Republic on their platforms. For example, removing the accounts of Khamenei, co. which promote hate speech and disinfo.
75 year old human rights lawyer Mohammad Seifzadeh is about to start yet another prison sentence because he wrote to the UN to stop the executions of protesters. A profile in a lifetime of courage and persistence.
This 20 year old boy was shot 96 times at close range and left to bleed to death in a alleyway the same Islamic Republic brutes who shot him had blocked.
#MohammadJavadZahedi
🧵⬇️
MohammadJavad Zahedi's parents separated when he was a child. His mother and sister raised MohammadJavad with difficulty. They say: “We did our best so that he did not miss anything in his life, but the conditions were difficult and sometimes there was nothing we could do.”
Exiled activists and journalists living in the US live in fear of the transnational threat of brutal regimes sending hired assassins and kidnappers for them (this happened to Masih Alinejad last year). Horrifying they are put at more risk by the data broker industry like this.
New—hackers have access to a powerful chain of data that lets them dox nearly anyone in US for $15. With credit cards your address goes to the credit bureaus. That is then sold to companies, and the hackers tap into that. Targets include Musk, Rogan, Biden
A hacker is targeting
@donyarad
and getting her Instagram account suspended as punishment for her noncooperation. Donya is well known for a viral protest photo of her sitting in a cafe in Iran without her hijab & being arrested for it. This hacker is using
@Meta
's own policies👇
This BBC documentary on the recent popular uprising in Iran including the brave young women lost by
@MajedNeisi
is worth watching:
Inside the Iranian Uprising
A pleasure to meet Kurdish activist
@dr_walladbegi
. As we were given space to make our civil society replies during the dialogue on Iran at
#HRC52
, the Islamic Republic gongos purposefully arranged themselves next to the speakers to intimidate activists & appear in the broadcast.
Abolfazl Adinezadeh’s family was beaten in the middle of the street and taken away. When the forces of the Islamic Republic were beating Abolfazl's father, his shoe came off and Abolfazl’s mother placed it on the grave of Abolfazl, whose birthday is tomorrow.
Iran based tech website Citna says officials from Douyin, the Chinese counterpart for TikTok, will be meeting in Iran tomorrow. Many are wondering what there is to discuss when TikTok blocks users with Iranian IPs (Iranian TikTokers use VPNs).
Really happy to see U.S. Treasury's General License D-2 be codified into federal regulation today. This should give compliance teams at big tech companies more assurances to finally open up services such as Google Cloud Platform for hosting circumvention tools for Iran.
Morteza Behboudi: A Taliban member said we can’t kill you, because you are everywhere in the media.
An Afghan-French journalist who has recently been freed from Taliban prison and returned to France, says that the media coverage of his arrest has saved his life.
#Freedom
#Media
Since legacy verification and twitter blue have merged, I wanted to clarify I am not a Twitter Blue subscriber, so I removed my own badge.
Every user can remove their verification badge by changing their twitter handle -I changed it once and changed it back to lose it.
Toumaj's death sentence over rap lyrics is an absolute mockery of justice and an insight into the very worst and barbaric nature of the Islamic Republic. I am so glad the Iranian diaspora community has been able to unite across their divisions globally for Toumaj.
#FreeToomaj
I was informed I misinterpreted the timeline of her death. She was tortured and raped for 72 hours before being taken to hospital where she died from her beatings. H/t
@SMohyeddin
for the correction.
As predicted, the week of the anniversary of the Mahsa Jhina Amini uprising has started and as this journalist on the ground describes, so have the internet disruptions.
#KeepItOn
🛜 #مهسا_امينی
در آستانه یکسالگی شروع قطعی و محدودیتهای اینترنت، دو شبه که اینترنت از نیمه شب دچار اختلال شدید میشه و براساس شنیدهها این اختلالها تا شبهای دیگه هم ادامه داره. شنیده میشه شرکت زیرساخت داره تغییراتی تو شبکه اعمال میکنه، تغییراتی که دلیلش مشخص نیست.
Just read a
@FT
piece dispatched from the religious Iranian city of Qom on the plans for “innovations” in AI amongst clerics. Incredible I could barely tell the difference between the piece & articles in conservative semi-controlled Iranian media like Mehr, Tasnim or Kayhan.
Karma in the form of a helicopter crash isn’t a bad alternative for a man who has evaded justice for so long. May the faces of all his victims haunt him.
Incredible one could scribe these quotes from an Iranian cleric loyal to a regime accused of “crimes against humanity” without once referencing the countless ways technology has been used as a tools of repression, to uphold a “Islamic Penal Code,” only within the past year.
Mohammad Mehdi Karami’s family take the traditional Persian new year “haft sin” to their son’s grave. For many this will be a painful first Nowruz without the loved ones the Islamic Republic murdered. This scene will be echoed across hundreds of graves.
It is a shame that he wasn’t banned sooner for the various other offenses his page has been promoting, including hate speech, incitement to violence and other offenses against his own people for years with no recourse despite going against Meta’s own policies.
🚨🚨The default of the new call feature on Twitter/X is to not only let anyone call you but to let anyone SEE YOUR IP ADDRESS. Please change this in your settings ASAP!
PRIVACY ISSUE! I actually can’t believe this is real but X has made it so people can call you via your account. Doing so reveals your IP address. To turn this off, go to your DMs, hit the settings cough and then toggle the option off:
On the anniversary of Nov 15, 2019 we once again must demand justice for victims of the Islamic Republic’s bloodiest massacre.
As people protested the rising fuel prices the authorities enacted a week long
#InternetShutdown
while massacring an estimated 1500 protesters. #ابان۹۸
“Every time I go outside without a headscarf I know that I might not return home alive,” a woman in Iran tells me. Yet every day she defeats fear and goes about her daily life without hijab. Don’t trust anyone who belittles courage of Iranian women in their battle for life.
Chaharshanbeh soori in Zanjan:
Jumping over fire is meant to purify oneself for the new year. Setting fire to the arms of the regime, like this Soleimani tribute, are only fitting for Iranians in the midst of a revolutionary Nowruz. #مهسا_امينی
Renewed energy in the popular uprising against the Islamic Republic was seen last night during chaharshanbeh suri celebrations. Naturally, connectivity issues proceed such mass mobilisation, and a near total internet shutdown was experienced briefly this morning across Iran.
The US Treasury has just designated Iran’s Arvan Cloud and it’s owners with US sanctions for their cooperation with state internet infrastructure and controls. The tech company was previously sanctioned by the EU.
Mashalla Karami has been detained since Aug 2023 for raising his voice for his son’s unjust execution. His trial for bogus charges including “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state” will be on April 17, 2024.
Solidarity to
@MARYAMALKHAWAJA
and all our Bahraini family fighting for freedom. It breaks my heart that Maryam has been brought to such extreme measures to fight for her father.
#FreeAlkhawaja
Today marks one month since the beginning of the largest mass
#hungerstrike
by political prisoners in
#Bahrain
, - and I am announcing that I will be traveling there next week to try and save my imprisoned father's life.
#FreeAlKhawaja
#DKPol
#Solidarity
Islamic Republic have been managing their murder with precision fearing a rekindled Mahsa Jhina Amini uprising. Armita had been long brain dead and on life support. Taking her off life support today was intentional, knowing the focus on Israel/Palestine.
#ArmitaGaravand
#BREAKING
NEWS
Armita Garavand, the teenage victim of the enforced Hijab rule, has tragically passed away at Tehran's Fajr Hospital after spending 28 days in a coma.
#ArmitaGaravand
On this day last year the Islamic Republic executed 22 year old Mohsen Shekari, the first of many protest related executions after sham trials during the Mahsa Jhina Amini uprising. His mother’s anguish as she screams his name… #محسن_شكارى
The Islamic Republic continues to try to repress dissidence and expression outside its territory. UK based
@faribabalouch1
has her son and brother arrested in Iran to pressure her to stop her activism. Read
@article19org
’s statement.
Another friday in Sistan and Baluchistan where protest consistently occur after Friday prayers, and once again the Islamic Republic has been disrupting and creating near total internet shutdowns in the providence.
@IODA_live
#KeepitOn
#InternetShutdowns
Read my chapter in this new
@CarnegieEndow
publication 'New Digital Dilemmas'. I unpack what the new phase of digital repression looks like in the wake of last years Mahsa Jhina Amini uprising.
The Digital Democracy Network's 🆕 publication features global perspectives on today's emerging digital challenges.
Explore some key excerpts from experts' research on governance & geopolitics' influence on technology below.
Read the full report now:
I am writing this message from a place where thousands of idealistic women have believed and continue to believe that certain things are worth suffering for. We believe that achieving freedom and equality is worth our suffering and deprivation. 2/6
At one point the gongo (pictured below) called the Kurdish advocates (that they started to harass, unprovoked by the activists) in Persian “har” (meaning rabid). Activists annoyed by their behavior were “rabid”, and not the regime they represent. 🤔
The authorities are aware the last time they did this turned into the Mahsa Jhina Amini uprising. There are security measures and lockdowns in place around the hospital, witnesses and Armita's family. This image was snuck out.
The Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi is a win for Iranians and women everywhere. A deserving recipient. A joyous moment for women giving life and blood in Iran and everywhere where the fight for freedom rages.
#WomanLifeFreedom
The passing of the
#MahsaAct
in the U.S. is a historic win and a symbolic gesture against the murderous Islamic Republic. One of the most powerful weapon the IRI fears made it happen: the unity & determination of Iranians -in this case, Iranian-Americans.
Really looking forward to delving into this report about Persian
@Wikipedia
. Some important questions about how this community can operate in spaces like Iran that are so heavily censored and surveilled, led by
@shamidartii
.
@Wikimedia
@Justice4Iran
As
@nima
also explains, they've managed to suspend Donya's account twice now using copyright/brand abuse policies. The hacker appears to register a business/brand with the same name and reports the account.
Hope Meta resolves this vulnerability.
فرد مزاحم میره یک نام تجاری جعلی به نام شما ثبت میکنه و به متا (اینستاگرام) میگه مثلا من یک برند تجاری پوشاکم و این هم لوگومه. متا هم بدون بررسی کافی، صفحات با نام مشابه از جمله صفحه شما رو میبنده. بعد هم جوجه هکر میره و مدعی اکانت شما میشه، اون رو میگیره و میگه هک کردم.
I still remember the cries of Mohsen Shekari’s mother in the streets on that horrifying December morning when the Islamic Republic executed the first person related to the Mahsa (Jhina) Amini revolutionary uprising.
He would have turned 23 a couple weeks ago.
#MohsenShekari
I still can’t stop thinking about Nika and her final hours at the hands of the brutes of the Islamic Republic. It’s hard to breathe thinking of the horror and brutality written in the regimes own words. May her memory haunt them until their downfall.
China's Tiandy has long been known to be the vendor behind surveillance cameras found in Iran tracking traffic and women's hijab. Germany's Bosch is also behind this possible digital repression, having sold surveillance cameras to Iran between 2016-2018.
“LA RÉVOLUTION "FEMME, VIE, LIBERTÉ"” gallery exhibit by
@kianoushr
&
@ManaNeyestani
in Paris. This cartoon of imprisoned Mashalla Karami holding onto his executed son Mohammad Mehdi Karami is heart wrenching. #ماشالا_کرمی #زن_زندگى_آزادى
We all know why they are doing this -today is 25 days until the anniversary of the'Woman, LIfe, Freedom" or "Mahsa Jhina Amini" uprising, and this horrific regime is ensuring it's brutality sees no bounds. Ensuring these grieving voices are silenced during a historic anniversary.
It is truly surreal to open social media today and see the complete dissonance between the elites, media and this horrifying moment for humanity.
#Rafah
Don't miss this excellent piece by
@hdagres
in
@nytimes
about the bravery of
#ToumajSalehi
tortured and facing possible execution for "living his art" and being a voice for a generation of youth in Iran sacrificing blood and life for the end of the Islamic Republic.
#FreeToumaj
While researching Iranian Gen Z, I briefly spoke to Iran-based rapper Toomaj Salehi. He is the voice of this defiant generation of youth.
With the alarming rise in executions and Toomaj's life at risk, I felt it was time to write this piece.
#FreeToomaj
What is there left to say anymore.
In the year 2023 a country gets away with killing men like this…The world let’s them get away with it.
#خانه_اصفهان #مجید_کاظمی #سعید_یعقوبی #صالح_میرهاشمی #نذارید_ما_را_بکشند
Massive gratitude to
@Signal
for this important harm reduction change in response to these needs and research. Beautifully encapsulating Design From the Margins. For this feature in general much credit goes to
@guardianproject
and their open source code & implementation of 2/4
One year. A tragic death that became the symbol of a revolution. Mahsa Jhina Amini, as her grave said, her name became a “code”. #مهسا_امينی #ژن_ژیان_ئازادی
Those who follow Middle East analysis know
@Elizrael
well. It’s been over a year since her kidnapping in Iraq. Her voice is missing amidst the region’s events.
Whether you agree with her work or politics, this is an assault on all academics and researchers. Free Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped in 2023 in Iraq, reportedly held by Kataib Hezbollah. Her sister says Iraq’s PM holds the key to her release. “The govt is…committed to disclose the fate of that hostage” he tells me. “We will hold accountable anyone who engages in such abduction”
Cloud service provider Cloudzy provides servers for hackers based in NK, Iran, Russia, etc. says new research. Cloudzy is registered in Cyprus&US but believed to be a front for abrNOC an internet hosting provider in Tehran that CEO Hannan Nozari also runs.
It is to this day the most popular safety feature of
@Grindr
and
@signalapp
’s version will be just as useful.
Excited for more of this work making the digital world safer. Gratitude to all the behind the scenes change makers who aren’t online for their safety.🫶📲 4/4
their app camouflage which has been ongoing for years. For example, as part of the project Afsaneh has led at
@article19org
,
@guardianproject
& their feature allowed
@Grindr
to implement it for millions of users. 3/4
Amnesty published this statement about the families of victims killed during the Mahsa Jhina Amini uprising being arbitrarily arrested & harassed only 2 days ago. The massive uptick in names added to this list since is horrifying, including Mashala Karimi.
were pursued. There are ways around current limitations to mean a company complicit in HR abuses and doesn't meet minimums of UN Principles on Business& Human Rights isn't the object of digital rights priorities.
One allegedly good byproduct (VPN servers) of a company with a litany of unethical & abusive practises cannot justify its legitimacy or protection from sanctions.
The feminists slogan "the personal is political" is crystal clear in Iran. We should not see our suffering as limited to our personal lives at home, in the bedroom, workplace, school, and streets. 3/6
And in German at 2pm
@NatalieAmiri
and
@GildaSahebi
will put Iran’s women led revolution on the agenda in a discussion in German on Stage 1
#rp23
: Frau, Leben, Freiheit / Jin, Jiyan, Azadî #زن_زندگى_آزادى
Here most poignant video and indictment against the failures of the Islamic Republic to provide freedom, hope or prosperity for her generation was entitled "The struggles of Iranian youth!"
.
@YouTube
invited Nina Navid & I to commemorate the legacy and life of Sarina Esmaeilzadeh who would have turned 17 on July 2nd had the Islamic Republic not killed her for protesting for
#WomanLifeFreedom
.
Happy Birthday, Sarina.
@AmnestyUK
@article19org
For decades we have fought and suffered for achieving the right to lead truly humane lives as women and mothers. We have fought against and suffered at the hands of an authoritarian regime and patriarchal society. But our fight has bear fruits...5/6
⚠️ Sexual misconduct allegations in the International History Department at LSE
Please read and share this important article. Women have been silenced for far too long by an institution that should protect them.