As the world is focused on Ukraine-Russia conflict, the Islamic Republic takes advantage of the world leaders’ ignorance even more than before and ramps up pressure on human rights activists, civil activists, families of victims in decades of protests, and even teachers demanding their bare minimum rights. Khadijeh Mehdipour is beaten in prison. Soheila Hijab is deprived of medical care for her COVID-19, Saba KordAfshahri is choked from behind, and Yasaman Aryani is attacked by other prisoners while she is supposed to be in a different ward.
Khamenei’s goons raided Shahnaz Akmali’s house. Ms. Akmali, mother of Mustafa Karimbeigi, one of the victims of 2009 protests, was beaten and her daughter, Maryam Karimbeigi was summoned to Islamic Revolutionary Courts. Shahnaz’s photos of her son and victims of nationwide protests from 2009 to November 2019 were taken and her house ransacked.
The tyrannic regime went even further and in a totally sham procedure “passed the Internet Protection Bill” in a “special commission!” The Islamic Consultative Assembly, Islamic Republic’s version of a parliament, was ordered to pass the bill which would give control of the cyberspace in Iran to IRGC and intelligence apparatus. Khamenei made it clear, he wanted the social media and its users controlled. Hossein Ronaghi, who was imprisoned, tortured and lost one of his kidneys while captured, tweeted about the “bill” and pointed the arrow at the head of the snake.
A day later, February 23, 2022, his brother, who was kept in the room next to Hossein and was tortured to break Hossein, tweeted that he was missing and nobody knew where he was. According to his friends and families, before his disappearance, he received calls from unknown numbers. February 24, 2022, a video was released with Hossein’s father speaking, showing how the oppressive forces of the regime ransacked their home to take his son’s computer and other belongings.
However, this was not the only time that Ronaghi spoke up about the ongoing oppression in Iran. He wrote an op-ed piece for Wall Street Journal, rebuking the western media for not telling the truth about Iran and how the Islamic Republic has infiltrated the media companies to promote its propaganda. He emphasized on this point in his interview with Bild too. He was proud to be living in Iran and being the voice of voiceless. He has always stood with the people. It is time for the leaders whose “human rights” slogans have deafened the world, to be Hossein Ronaghi’s voice and demand his unconditional release.
