In a report published on Thursday, January 12, 2023, “TAZ” newspaper announced it had accessed a copy of a “classified” document of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This document is a 28-page report on the situation in Iran after nationwide protests in September erupted and their bloody suppression by the Islamic Republic. It was prepared by this ministry in late November of 2022 for the Immigration and Asylum Administration and the German Ministry of the Interior. It was a kind of “internal directive” that was secret until now. Based on the picture that this report gives of Iran’s current situation, government departments and ministries adjust and change their decisions in cases such as asylum or immigration petitions and deportation of people to Iran.
The picture is dark and disturbing. The warnings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are very serious and the situation looks like a disaster.
The regime has been under “massive” pressure by nationwide protests.
It tries to “maintain the system by using all/any means”.
It shows “no willingness to reconsider its brutal treatment of its own people.”
The regime confronts its dissidents “relentlessly!”.
Describing the confidential circular of the German Foreign Ministry, “TAZ” writes: “The Ministry’s description (of the situation in Iran) is devastating. Many sections of the Iranian society are now exposed to the severe repressions of the regime. People are oppressed for any reason – ethnicity, gender, religion, or because of their artistic, journalistic, political activities. Women in particular face severe restrictions due to laws and social rules, the non-compliance of which leads to all kinds of punishments.”
The document states there is no such thing as “separation of powers” in Iran; Especially when it comes to the judiciary. “Corruption and arbitrariness, especially in political cases” have taken root in this branch.
Torture and inhumane behavior are things that exist in the Islamic Republic judicial system.
There has been a “significant increase” in the number of executions in Iran, which includes children and teenagers, people under 18 years old.
“Unexplained” deaths are regularly repeated in regime prisons.
Oppression with All Means
The German Foreign Ministry sums up somewhere in the report: “All forms of dissent are suppressed with all available means.” However, the repressive approach of the regime has not been fruitful. In the end, the classified report concludes the repression was not only unable to end the protests, but contrary to the regime’s expectation, it has caused the protests to spread. The focus of protests is no longer on “women’s rights”. It is no longer only “city residents” who come to the streets to protest. The protests are increasingly turning into a “civil rights movement” that goes beyond the borders of the cities and reaches the cities and remote parts of Iran provinces.
The image that this classified document presents of Iran’s current situation does not contain any new or unknown information for the Iranian audience. Its importance lies in something else. In that the “classified” reports that are prepared by government institutions in foreign countries are not for public information, nor for showing the political positions of a country, but for the correct use and assessment of the situation in order to adopt an appropriate approach to various issues. This gives these reports a special sense and status: They are more honest and realistic. Far from common political considerations, they are more ruthless and “undiplomatic”. And for this very reason, this classified circular of the German Foreign Ministry also becomes valuable. Because it allows us to know the gaze that looks at us from the outside, draws our condition, our weaknesses and our strengths in 28 pages – not to show us, but disregarding any consideration, to know how it should treat us.
Translation of this post by Sahar.