THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 10:00 PM CEST
Prosecutor Says The New Jersey Man Who Stabbed Author Salman Rushdie Was Trying to Carry Out A Fatwa
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A man who severely injured author Salman Rushdie in a frenzied knife attack in western New York was motivated by a Hezbollah leader’s endorsement of a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death, prosecutors said Wednesday in announcing new terrorism charges. The three-count indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Buffalo offered for the first time a potential motive for the 2022 attack on “The Satanic Verses” author.
Hadi Matar, a U.S. citizen from New Jersey, was attempting to carry out a fatwa, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Kruly said. According to the prosecutor, Matar believed the call for Rushdie’s death was backed by the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and endorsed in a 2006 speech by the group’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah.
UPDATE: 5:30 PM CEST
The Iranian Mullahs’ ‘La-La-Land’ Legal System
In a farcical display of what they call ‘justice’ in Iran, a kangaroo court has ordered that anyone participating in events organized by the main democratic opposition movement anywhere in the world will be found guilty of ‘rebellion,’ which carries an automatic death sentence. The absurd ruling was issued on July 9th by Judge Amir Reza Dehghani, who has presided over 15 sessions so far of a sham trial in Tehran of 104 leaders of the main opposition movement, all of whom live abroad.
During the bogus trial, the judge declared that judicial notices had been sent to all 104 defendants in the case under the Islamic penal code of Iran. He expressed disappointment and frustration that the defendants had neither hired lawyers nor filed a defense with his court, stating that he expected all the defendants to be extradited to Iran to face punishment and threatened that countries that failed to extradite them would be held in contempt. His threats have been interpreted by many as a warning that the mullahs will take the law into their own hands and carry out terrorist operations to assassinate dissidents living abroad.
UPDATE: 9:00 AM CEST
Police Storm Hate Mosques
On Wednesday morning, police conducted a large-scale operation at the Imam Ali Mosque on Hamburg’s Outer Alster. Simultaneously, the Federal Ministry of the Interior banned the “Islamic Center Hamburg” (IZH), which operates the mosque. The center is deemed “extremist.”
Investigators also conducted raids in Berlin, targeting a mosque in the Tempelhof district. In total, 53 properties across eight federal states (Bavaria, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia) were searched, with 30 properties in Bavaria alone.
At 5:59 a.m., officers from the Hamburg riot police, all wearing black masks, stormed the grounds of the so-called “Blue Mosque.” They were accompanied by a technical standby team equipped with cutoff grinders, chainsaws, spreaders, and pile drivers.
Iranian National Extradited to United States for Alleged Scheme to Illicitly Ship Sophisticated Electronics to Iran
Iranian national Saeid Haji Agha Mousaei, 53, made his initial appearance yesterday in Chicago federal court following his extradition from the United Kingdom to face charges for his role in a years-long conspiracy to evade U.S. export restrictions and transship advanced U.S. electronic testing technology to Iran using third-party countries.
According to court documents, Mousaei was a manager of Dubai-based defendant company Millennium Product Company LLC (MPC). As alleged, from in or about January 2014 through at least August 2018, Mousaei, MPC and others, devised and participated in a scheme to obtain controlled electronics with military applications, including signals equipment like oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers, for export and re-export to Iran.
UPDATE: 7:30 AM CEST
Message to The Conference Announcing House Majority Support for The Iranian Resistance
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s message: “Honorable Members of Congress, I appreciate the bipartisan initiative of the House of Representatives in presenting Resolution 1148. This is a valuable model for an effective policy against the mullahs’ regime that has become the biggest cause of war and crisis in the region and the world. A religious dictatorship that is known for its massacre by executing 30,000 political prisoners in 1988.
I am very grateful to Congressman Randy Weber, who initiated this resolution. I extend my greetings to Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Chair of the Republican Conference in this House, and the honorable Representatives Nancy Mace, Brad Sherman, Lance Gooden, Raul Ruiz, and Mario Diaz-Balart.”
UNSR Prof. Javaid Rehman Releases His Report
At the conclusion of his six-year mission, Professor Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, issued a detailed report declaring that the massacre of PMOI prisoners in 1981, 1982, and 1988 constitutes clear examples of crimes against humanity and genocide. The fatwa issued by Khomeini in 1988 exposed his intent to commit genocide against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. Professor Rehman’s report is grounded in testimonies, documents, reports, and extensive investigations.
The UNSR’s report underscores the urgent need to refer the case of severe human rights violations in Iran to the United Nations Security Council, a call the Iranian Resistance has been making for the past 40 years.
Why Iran’s Economy Declines Under Every Government
As the new government of Iran’s regime prepares to take office, the living conditions of the Iranian people continue to decline. We are witnessing a significant increase in the prices of essential goods, indicating the worsening of the regime’s economic disease. So much so that 50 members of the parliament have protested in a letter against the removal of the 280,500-rial-to-dollar exchange rate for 485 essential items. On July 19, the state-run Bahar News website wrote, “In fact, this action by the government has caused the prices of essential goods in the country to increase by more than 50 percent.”
The Rise of Iran Regime’s Intelligence Budget
Recently, Esmaeil Khatib, the Iranian regime’s Minister of Intelligence, confirmed a dramatic tenfold increase in the ministry’s budget under the 13th government. He asserted that this substantial funding boost has led to the expansion of the nation’s security infrastructure and has enhanced the ministry’s effectiveness in countering threats, particularly from Israel.
The budget increase is part of a strategic initiative known as the Transformation of the Ministry of Intelligence. Khatib highlighted the improved synergy among the intelligence and security agencies under President Ebrahim Raisi, claiming that this collaboration has yielded positive results, especially in the northwest and southeast regions of Iran.
Three Baluch Women Executed in Birjand Central Prison
Three Baluch women were among seven prisoners executed at dawn on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in Birjand Central Prison, located in South Khorasan Province.
The identities of these three Baluch women, who were arrested and executed on drug-related charges, have not yet been confirmed. As of the release of this news, these executions have not been reported by the state-run media in Iran.
On Saturday, July 20, another woman with the surname “Mahmoudinia” was executed at Adelabad Central Prison in Shiraz along with three other prisoners. She, a victim of forced marriage, was sentenced to death for the murder of a man to whom she had been forcibly married.
Why Does Iran’s Electricity Shortage Worsen Every Year?
In recent years, Iran has faced increasing electricity shortages during the peak of summer. This year not only is electricity supply to industries severely limited, but households also experience frequent blackouts, and offices in some provinces have been shut down.
Iran’s electricity shortage this summer is estimated to be around 14,000 megawatts, a substantial figure equivalent to twice the total electricity production of Azerbaijan, a country that exported 3 terawatt-hours of electricity (about 10 percent of its production) worth $402 million to Russia, Georgia, Iran, and Turkey last year.
In other words, even assuming neighboring countries have 14,000 megawatts of surplus electricity and the infrastructure for importing electricity is ready, Iran would need to purchase more than $8 billion worth of electricity for just the three summer months.
IRGC Seizes Product Tanker Betelgeuse in Persian Gulf
The aging coastal tanker Betelgeuse was captured by IRGC personnel at a position about 60 nautical miles off the coast of Bushehr, according to Ambrey. It had just taken on a cargo of gas oil at Khor al Zubair, Iraq, and was bound for the UAE. The details of the seizure are consistent with past IRGC actions related to fuel smuggling, which is a rampant problem in the Islamic Republic. Iran heavily subsidizes gasoline and diesel for public sale, making the retail price within Iran far lower than the wholesale price abroad. Illicit actors in Iran operate a lucrative, prolific trade in discounted fuel by buying it locally at below market value, then exporting it without a license and selling it at full price in neighboring countries.
Hamburg, Germany—July 20, 2024: Iranian Community Rally Against the Sham Trial of PMOI Members
Hamburg, Germany—July 20, 2024: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally and photo exhibition against the regime’s sham trial of MEK members and attempts to extradite Mojahedin supporters from around the world.
Bern, Switzerland—July 22, 2024: Iranian Community Exhibition Condemns Recent Executions and the Sham Trial of PMOI Members
Bern, Switzerland—July 22, 2024: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organized an exhibition to condemn the recent executions in Iran by the mullahs’ regime. They also responded to the mullahs’ regime judiciary regarding the sham trial of MEK members and their supporters.
Paris, France—July 20, 2024: Iranian Community Rally Against the Sham Trial of PMOI Members
Paris, France—July 20, 2024: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally and photo exhibition against the regime’s sham trial of MEK members and attempts to extradite Mojahedin supporters from around the world.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – July 23, 2024