Category Archives: Iran

23Oct/20

Iran’s Fear of the Popular Figure: The Execution of Navid Afkari

Also available in العربية

October 21, 2020

Navid Afkari, a 27 year-old Iranian wrestling champion who won numerous medals, had rarely lost a fight in his life. There was, however, one struggle he could not win. Following torture and a forced confession, Navid was executed earlier this month following a verdict by the Iranian Supreme Court. 

Navid Afkari, along with his two brothers Vahid and Habib, were found guilty of participating in the nationwide protest that engulfed Iran in August 2018, along with several other charges that included insulting the supreme leader, waging war against God, and murder. Vahid and Habib were handed prison sentences of 54 years and 27 years respectively. Both were also sentenced to 74 lashes and are still behind bars.

Navid’s execution demonstrates that Iran’s decision earlier this year to commute the execution sentence of three young men represented an exception rather than a potential shift inside the country. Iran had halted the executions of three young protestors—Amirhossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi, and Saeed Tamjidi—under the pressure of an online campaign that attracted millions of tweets and a hashtag protesting their sentence.

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12Jun/20

מלחמת ששת הימים ברמת הגולן, גרסת הראשידון – הסהר נגד הצלב

בגולן של 2020, כמו בגולן של שנת 636, המאבק מול איראן חייב לקחת בחשבון את שליחיהם ואת הגעתם של כוחות עוינים מחזיתות אחרות. הם כאן כדי להתכונן לקרב הבא שכנראה עוד יגיע. לנו מוטב להיות מוכנים ולא להילחם שם לבדנו. ההיסטוריה מלמדת שלא מעט קרבות מסתיימים בתבוסה בשל ההכנה לקרב של האתמול, ולא לקרב של המחר

מערכות

מפת אזור קרב הירמוך, הריבוע הלבן מסמל את האזור המכוסה על־ידי מפות הקרב

ואולם (האחרים) אשר שיערו כי עומדים הם לפגוש את אללה, אמרו, מה רבים המחנות הקטנים אשר גברו על מחנות גדולים מהם, כאשר הרשה אללה. אללה עם העומדים בעוז רוח”. (הקוראן, סורה 2:249). ך

קרבות רבים ידעה רמת הגולן, ודומה לעיתים כי ביקשו הם להחיות מעט את אש הלבה הגעשית ששכחה לפני עשרות אלפי שנים. במאמר זה נדון באחד מהקרבות האלה – קרב הירמוק שהתרחש בין 20-15 באוגוסט, שנת 636, ברמת הגולן הסורית, ממש מעבר לרוקאד ולגבול שבין סוריה וישראל. זהו קרב ששינה את המזרח התיכון הישן, אך דומה שהדיו מגיעים גם לימינו אנו.כ

במרכזו עמד ח’אלד בן אל־וליד, המכונה גם סיף אללה אל־מסלול (חרבו השלופה של אללה). וליד, אחד המתאסלמים הראשונים ומבני לוויתו של הנביא מוחמד, נחשב לאחד המצביאים הגדולים בהיסטוריה שלא הובס מעולם.כ

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29Apr/20

لحظة شبيهة بكارثة تشيرنوبيل في إيران

لحظة شبيهة بكارثة تشيرنوبيل في إيران

متاح أيضاً في English

24 نيسان/أبريل 2020

بينما يبدو أن عددًا من البلدان يحاول فتح أبوابه، فقد تصدرت إيران عناوين الصحف باعتبارها أحد البلاد التي تعيد فتح أبوابها تدريجيًا. فهي من جهة تعاني وضعًا اقتصاديًا صعبًا يشتمل على انهيار غير مسبوق لأسعار النفط وعقوبات أمريكية جديدة. ولكن استمرار النظام الإيراني في التعامل مع الأزمة باستخفاف قد يثير تساؤلات عما إذا كان سيخطئ في إدارة إعادة فتح البلاد أيضًا وما إذا كانت البلاد ستصل إلى مرحلة يصبح فيها التهميش الذي يختبره الشعب الإيراني كافيًا ليشكل نقطة أساسية للإطاحة بالنظام؟

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25Apr/20

A Chernobyl Moment in Tehran

Also available in العربية

Fikra Forum, April 24, 2020

As several states seem to experiment with opening up, Iran has made headlines as one of the countries experimenting with a gradual reopening of the country. However, the Iranian regime’s consistent mishandling of the crisis raises the question of whether this reopening too will be mismanaged, and whether the country will reach a point where the alienation felt by the Iranian public be enough to be a major tipping point for the regime.

Iran’s failures during the coronavirus crisis has presented a sort of existential crisis for the regime. Its early inability to admit to, much less contain the outbreak—and its subsequent inability to manage the public health response required by COVID19, have shown the regime’s indifference to the wellbeing of the its own people, steadily increasing the public’s sense of alienation.

The catastrophe that has unfolded in Iran is in several ways reminiscent of history’s worst nuclear accident, which occurred in the former Soviet Union just 34 years ago. Many mark the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which killed thousands, as the moment that led to the downfall of the Soviet Union five years later. More than anything else, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster helped the people of Soviet Union realize that they had been systematically lied to by the Soviet regime for over 70 years. As Soviet leaders scrambled to cover up the disaster, their denials and concurrently slow efforts to contain the leak demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice human lives in order not to embarrass the state. This undeniable reality as the Chernobyl disaster became too large to hide and prompted even loyal citizens to question their government—this stark example of state failure helped the entire system begin to unravel. 

The slow reaction of the current Iranian Regime, like Soviet leaders, revealed their total disregard for their own people, gradually shattering the illusion of supremacy. In the former USSR, this disillusionment opened a path to a stronger “Perestroika,” which in turn unraveled the mechanisms of fear that had helped keep the regime apparatus in place. And while the dynamics of the two states are different in many ways, the stakes of a potential Chernobyl moment in Iran are just as high for the region and the world.

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