English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 03/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.october03.22.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Bible Quotations For today
If the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into
Matthew 24/32-44/:”‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 02-03/2022
Al-Rahi calls on MPs to elect 'sovereign president'
Archbishop Aoudi: We lack officials who measure by one standard
Aoun to meet with Berri, Mikati at Baabda Palace on Monday to discuss Lebanon's official response to Hochstein's
Lebanon reaps largest number of awards during Qatar’s International Festival of Arts ‘QIAF’
Israeli leader welcomes US proposal for sea border with Lebanon
Lapid says Lebanon gas deal to 'curb Hezbollah, bring regional stability'
New Israel-Lebanon maritime border proposal meets Beirut’s demands ‘in principle’
Lapid: Proposed maritime border deal with Lebanon safeguards security, economic interests
Lebanon’s Nabih Berri sees draft maritime deal as ‘positive’: Report
Nasrallah calls Iranian woman's death a 'vague incident'
Lebanon and the Immense Inadequacy in Arab Democratic Political Culture/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/October, 02/ 2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 02-03/2022
In spinoff to protests, armed attacks target Iran police, Guards
UN: American Held in Iran Allowed to Leave, Son Freed from Detention
Iran says awaits unfreezing of $7 billion after releasing Americans
Türkiye Strikes PKK Members in Northern Iraq Air Raid
9 NATO Members Urge Support for Ukraine after Annexation
Zelensky pledges to retake more of eastern Ukraine 'in a week'
Report: Netanyahu Has Last Chance to Form Gov’t
Venezuela Frees 7 Americans in Swap for Maduro Wife's Relatives
At least 174 dead in Indonesia football stadium stampede
Libya’s Unity Gov’t Held Responsible for Civilian Casualties West of Tripoli

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 02-03/2022
How Victims of Rape Are Viewed: The Persecution of Christians, August 2022/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/October 02, 2022
Has Putin Won?/Tariq Al-Homayed/ Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/October, 02/ 2022
Tesla’s Big Batteries Aren’t the Fire Problem. Lithium Is/Anjani Trivedi/Bloomberg/October, 02/ 2022
West must act as Iranian regime cracks down/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/October 02/2022
Trouble at home will hinder Iran’s export of its revolution/Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/October 02/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 02-03/2022
Al-Rahi calls on MPs to elect 'sovereign president'
Naharnet/October 02 2022 
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday expressed concern that the fate of presidential election sessions will continue to be linked to "consensus.""We continue to pray for the election of a president. How can a parliament consider vacuum as being the possible option and election to be impossible?" al-Rahi added, in his Sunday Mass sermon. "If MPs don't rebel against themselves and elect a sovereign president, the people must not be blamed if they rebel against them," al-Rahi said. "The failure to elect a new president would be an act of sabotage to undermine the main post," the patriarch warned.

Archbishop Aoudi: We lack officials who measure by one standard
LCCC/October 02/2022
Archbishop Elias Aoudi, in his Sunday's homely pointed out that “what our country has reached is a result of lack of faith, lack of love, and the tyranny of selfishness and interest, which obliterates humanity in the human heart and cancels out mercy and sympathy, so that personal interest prevails over love of the other, and exploitation and monopoly arise.”He added, "Our hope is that everyone will demand together, to show the truth in the case of the port explosion,  to establish justice for all. This  justice will  happen when the authentic investigator is left to do his work without obstruction or interference, stressing that "all those obstructing justice must override their interests, strip their immunities and facilitate the work of the judiciary." So that everyone who has a right gets his due.” Also, Archbishop asked, “Isn’t it time to put an end to everyone who throws the poor into the mouth of death by drowning? Is it difficult to know them and hold them accountable?” He added, “We lack officials who follow the same standard, and treat everyone according to the dictates of the law, without equivocation or selectivity.” Lebanon does not need officials who not seeks a chair or a title, rather having a vision and a program of work that is credible and aims to save the remains of this country. We need officials not to be satisfied with reaching the center and achieving the ambitions that they carry, and the hunger for power and money. Also, we hope that the representatives will live up to the confidence placed in them by the voters and not use the agency lightly and arbitrarily.”

Aoun to meet with Berri, Mikati at Baabda Palace on Monday to discuss Lebanon's official response to Hochstein's
NNA/October 02 2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, is scheduled to receive at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, Monday, at Baabda Palace, House Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, to discuss Lebanon’s official response to the offer delivered by the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, on the demarcation of the southern maritime border, NNA correspondent at Baabda Palace indicated. The tripartite presidential meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the Technical Committee at 1:00 pm at the Presidential Palace.

Lebanon reaps largest number of awards during Qatar’s International Festival of Arts ‘QIAF’
NNA/October 02 2022
Following their participation in the 3rd third edition of the Qatar International Art Festival, QIAF, the Lebanese team of 17 artists, led by prominent painter Majd Ramadan, won the largest number of festival awards. At the conclusion of the festival’s activities, Ramadan delivered a word on Lebanon’s behalf, in which she said: “When I received the shield of honor as an ambassador for my country, Lebanon, I felt proud of my leadership of the creative Lebanese team, which was distinguished by its participation at all levels among 65 countries of the world, as its various significant paintings were acquired by the festival management.”She added: “All the Lebanese artists participating in the fashion show also won special prizes for their performances that portrayed Lebanon’s cultural and heritage history, and this distinction is due to the strength of the Lebanese team, the diversity of its ideas in its work plan, and its high technical skills.”Ramadan thanked Caretaker Minister of Culture, Mohammad Wissam Al-Mortada, for his "support to the team that excelled among all countries, reflecting their country’s pride, history, roots and civilization, as well as all the partaking Lebanese artists who showed Lebanon as a message of love and peace to the world."

Israeli leader welcomes US proposal for sea border with Lebanon
Josef Federman/Associated Press/October 02 2022
Yair Lapid said the plan would strengthen northern areas near the border, allow Israel to produce additional natural gas, and deliver new revenues.
Israel’s prime minister has welcomed a US proposal for setting the maritime border with Lebanon, saying the American plan for resolving the long-running dispute between the neighbouring countries would lift Israel’s economy and boost regional security. Yair Lapid said on Sunday that the proposal was delivered over the weekend to both his country and Lebanon. He said that, although it is still being studied, it would strengthen Israel’s northern areas near the Lebanese border, allow Israel to produce additional natural gas, and deliver new revenues to the national coffers. “This is a deal that strengthens Israel’s security and Israel’s economy,” Mr Lapid told his Cabinet. He also said Israel would not oppose the development of “an additional Lebanese gas field” straddling the maritime border, as long as Israel receives “the share we deserve”.He said this would weaken Lebanon’s dependence on Iran, restrain the Hezbollah militant group, and promote regional stability. He said the deal is being reviewed by legal and defence officials before being voted upon by the government. Israeli media said a vote could take place on Thursday. On Saturday, the proposal was also delivered to Lebanese leaders. Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948 and both countries claim some 330 square miles (860 sq km) of the Mediterranean Sea. Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the US State Department who has been mediating between the two neighbours, last visited Beirut in September, where he expressed optimism after meeting Lebanon’s leaders. Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabi Berri, said in an interview with the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Saturday that the proposal “in principle meets the Lebanese demands”

Lapid says Lebanon gas deal to 'curb Hezbollah, bring regional stability'
Naharnet/October 02 2022
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday said that both Lebanon and Israel have “accepted the American mediator's proposal for an agreement on the maritime border between the countries.”“We are conducting discussions on the final details, so it is not yet possible to congratulate on the finality, but as we demanded from day one, the proposal fully preserves Israel's political-security interests, as well as our economic interests,” Lapid told his Cabinet. He added that Israel has been trying to reach this deal for more than ten years.“The security of the north will be strengthened, the Karish rig will operate and produce gas, the money will enter the state coffers and our energy independence is guaranteed. This is a deal that strengthens Israeli security and the Israeli economy,” Lapid reassured. He also said Israel would not oppose the development of "an additional Lebanese gas field" straddling the maritime border, as long as Israel receives "the share we deserve."
“Such a stockpile will weaken Lebanese dependence on Iran, curb Hezbollah and bring regional stability,” he added. Lapid also said that the U.S. mediator’s offer is now “under legal review.”“After the review is finished, we will bring the decision, together with Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, in coordination with the Legal Advisor to the Government, for discussion and approval,” Lapid went on to say. On Saturday, the proposal was also delivered to Lebanese leaders. Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel's creation in 1948 and both countries claim some 860 square kilometers of the Mediterranean Sea. Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the U.S. State Department who has been mediating between the two neighbors, last visited Beirut in September, where he expressed optimism after meeting with Lebanon's leaders.
Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabi Berri, said in an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper Saturday the proposal "in principle meets the Lebanese demands."Lebanon hopes to unleash offshore oil and gas production as it grapples with the worst economic crisis in its modern history, plunging three-quarters of its population into poverty. A Lebanese official who attended the talks last month told The Associated Press that the proposal put forward by the U.S. envoy gives Lebanon the right to the Qana field, located partially in Israel's domain. A part of it stretches deep into a disputed area. The official added that the main point now is how to draw the demarcation line in a way that stretches south of Qana. Lapid's comments appeared to be a reference to the emerging agreement over Qana. Israel set up a gas rig at its designated location at the Karish field. Israel says the field is part of its U.N.-recognized exclusive economic zone, while Lebanon insists Karish is in a disputed area. In July, the Israeli military shot down three unarmed drones belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah flying over the Karish field. Hezbollah's leader has issued warnings to Israel over the maritime dispute, saying that "any arm" that reaches out to steal Lebanon's wealth "will be cut off."The heavily armed group, which has fought several wars with Israel, has repeatedly said in the past that it would use its weapons to protect Lebanon's economic rights. Hezbollah officials have however said they would endorse a deal reached between Lebanon's government and Israel. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a speech Saturday echoed similar sentiments to Lebanon's top political leaders about Hochstein's proposal, and reasserted that the Iran-backed party will back the Lebanese political leadership's position. "God willing, if it reaches the desired and best result, it would be the result of national unity, cooperation, and solidarity," he said.

New Israel-Lebanon maritime border proposal meets Beirut’s demands ‘in principle’
JNS/Otober 02/2022
Hezbollah chief, who has threatened war over the border dispute, calls the proposal a “very important step.”he United States on Saturday submitted to Lebanese President Michel Aoun a formal proposal to end a longstanding maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel.
A statement released by Aoun’s office confirmed receipt of the document, which will now be reviewed by top Lebanese officials, who have recently hinted that they will accept the terms of the deal, the Associated Press reported. U.S. senior energy adviser Amos Hochstein has been mediating between the sides for more than a year in a bid to end the dispute centered on competing claims to some 330 square miles (860 square kilometers) of gas-rich waters in the Eastern Mediterranean. The latest proposal would reportedly allow Lebanon to develop the contested Qana gas field, while Israel’s claims over the Karish deposit would be recognized. Israel recently set up a rig at Karish, where gas was reportedly set to begin flowing in September but was delayed in order to give the talks more time, and amid repeated threats of war by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. In July, the Iran-backed terror group launched three unmanned aerial vehicles towards Karish, all of which were downed by the Israel Defense Forces. While Nasrallah has continued to beat the drums of war, he described Saturday’s development as “a very important step,” with Israeli media quoting him as saying that the prospective agreement would provide “new and promising horizons for the people of Lebanon by rescuing the country from the crisis it has fallen into.”The comments echoed those of Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who in an interview with the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said the proposal “in principle meets the Lebanese demands.”Hebrew-language media outlets reported that the draft proposal was also handed over to Israel, and that the cabinet would meet this week in Jerusalem to approve the agreement.

Lapid: Proposed maritime border deal with Lebanon safeguards security, economic interests
JNS/Otober 02/2022
Under the terms of the emerging accord, Israel will be able to exploit the Karish natural gas field, according to the Israeli premier.
A pending agreement to solve Israel and Lebanon’s long standing maritime border dispute answers all of the Jewish state’s security and economic requirements, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday. Addressing the weekly Cabinet meeting, the Israeli premier said that the two countries were discussing the “final details” of the agreement, though he noted that “it is not yet possible to praise a done deal. The deal, he said, “as we have demanded from the start … safeguards Israel’s full security-diplomatic interests, as well as our economic interests.”The United States on Saturday submitted to Lebanese President Michel Aoun a formal proposal to end the dispute, which has been ongoing for more than a decade. Under the terms of the emerging accord, the Jewish state would be free to exploit the Karish natural gas field, said Lapid. “Money will flow into the state’s coffers and our energy independence will be secured. This deal strengthens Israel’s security and Israel’s economy,” he added.The proposal will reportedly allow Lebanon to develop the contested Qana gas field, while Israel’s claims over the Karish deposit would be recognized. Israel recently set up a rig at Karish, where gas was reportedly set to begin flowing in September but was delayed in order to give the talks more time, and amid repeated threats of war by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. “We do not oppose the development of an additional Lebanese gas field, from which we will of course receive the share we deserve,” Lapid said on Sunday, adding, “Such a field will weaken Lebanon’s dependence on Iran, restrain Hezbollah and promote regional stability.”The proposal is currently undergoing legal review, after which it will be submitted to a government forum for discussion and approval.

Lebanon’s Nabih Berri sees draft maritime deal as ‘positive’: Report
Reuters/October 02/2022
Lebanon’s parliament speaker said a draft, US-brokered deal demarcating a disputed maritime border with Israel was “positive” but must be studied before a final reply is given, according to comments distributed by his office. Earlier on Saturday the Lebanese presidency said Beirut had received a letter from US mediator Amos Hochstein regarding proposals for the maritime boundary demarcation between Lebanon and Israel, enemy states with a history of conflict. Hochstein has been shuttling between Lebanon and Israel in an effort to seal a deal that would pave the way for offshore energy exploration and defuse one potential source of conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. In a tweet, the US embassy in Beirut said Ambassador Dorothy Shea had met President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati “to provide the US proposal for a final agreement on the maritime boundary line.”Berri, a Hezbollah ally and one of Lebanon’s most influential politicians, told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper the draft of the final agreement was “positive,” according a statement circulated by his office. Berri considered that the draft “meets in principle the Lebanese demands” which reject the maritime boundary deal having any impact on the land border between the two countries, it said. Berri noted however that the agreement was 10 pages and in English and “would require study before the final response to it is given.” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech on Saturday, said the receipt of the letter was “a very important step” and the coming days would be crucial. The heavily armed Hezbollah, which last fought a major war with Israel in 2006, has warned against any Israeli exploration and extraction in the disputed waters.

Nasrallah calls Iranian woman's death a 'vague incident'
Agence France Presse/October 02/2022
The leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has said that the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in Iranian police custody was a "vague incident" that was being exploited against Tehran. A wave of street violence has rocked Iran since Amini, 22, died after her arrest by the morality police for allegedly failing to observe the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women. Nasrallah said that her death, in circumstances he said remained unclear, was being exploited to incite the protests. "The Iranian state is a target and so any incident is exploited... to incite against this state," Nasrallah said."This vague incident was exploited and people took to the streets," he said, referring to Amini's death. The Hezbollah chief, a staunch Iran ally, said that the protests rocking the country do not reflect the true will of the Iranian people who he said are loyal to their leadership.
Iran "is stronger than ever and will not be affected," he said. Protests were held across Iran for a 15th consecutive night on Friday, despite a bloody crackdown that the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group says has claimed more than 80 lives. It is the bloodiest unrest in Iran since a ruthless crackdown on demonstrations in November 2019 over a sudden hike in fuel prices that killed at least 304 people, according to Amnesty International. Iran has blamed outside forces for the nationwide protests.

Lebanon and the Immense Inadequacy in Arab Democratic Political Culture
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/October, 02/ 2022
Imagine if Arab intellectuals, during the nationalist era in the fifties and sixties, had behaved as though the Palestinian Nakba did not concern them. Such behavior would have been considered a grave shortcoming in their nationalist qualities, if not collusion with the enemy of nationalism. Nothing like that happened, and Arab nationalist intellectuals were overtaken by an excess of nationalist zealm, with all the enthusiasm trumping its achievements. Today, Lebanon is undergoing a Nakba. It is also an Arab calamity, and it has implications for freedom and many of the hallmarks of progress. However, the impact of this calamity on Arab political culture, including its democratic segment, is hardly visible. This is happening at a time that had been inaugurated by the Arab revolutions with their demands for freedom.
The matter is not without paradox.
True, many have expressed their genuine regret, shaking their heads in disapproval or demonstrating sorrow for Beirut. However, rarely has it appeared to have been deeply seen as a calamity for freedom, and rarely was the scale or significance of this calamity noted. Of course, Lebanon is not suffering from the loss of territory or direct foreign occupation. However, what is facing is more dangerous: the closure of a window into the contemporary world and a bridge for engaging with its values- two things the entire Arab world needs, especially the Arabs living under regimes that don’t tolerate them and their opinions.
Relatively advanced experiences, by Arab standards that is, with freedom of assembly, expression, and the media, as well as advances in education (including in foreign languages) and the status of women. All of that is threatened with being bombarded and dragged across the streets of Beirut, with no possibility of this turning into a massive development in recorded Arab history, especially that recorded by those who defend freedoms and democracy.
This paradox hurts and deserves our attention because it stems from an understanding of calamities that limits them to the loss of territory taken over by a foreign power or the expulsion of residents with the aim of making way for foreigners who replace them. This is the case despite the fact that the suffering of the Syrians, and before them the Iraqis, warranted equipping Arab political culture with a less exclusive definition of the term calamity.
One matter to worry about is that this exclusivity indicates that nationalist, perhaps religious and always communal, matters are far more ingrained in Arab political culture, including its democratic segment, than we think.
When it comes to Lebanon in particular, we see something like timid discomfort in defending it. This is perhaps due to the fact that contact with the West did more than anything else to grant the Lebanese their freedom; or perhaps it is the weighty position the Christians had had in this experience; or perhaps it is because those who are crushing Lebanon are also those who claim to be fighting Israel, that is, retaliating to the exemplary Arab calamity, the Nakba of 1948.
The fact is that this Lebanon, which embarrasses those defending it, is the same country that, through its residents and expatriates, played a pivotal role in what became known as the Arab Renaissance, its ideas, and its rejuvenation of the Arabic language. And this same Lebanon is where large landowners had seen their holdings broken up as early as the late nineteenth century. This was not an undertaking of the authorities as was the case in other Arab countries. Indeed, these lands were broken up from below, from the peasant base, and the process ended with the emergence of the broadest middle class in the region decades later. Far from the vile drivel of many Lebanese regarding their romanticized and touristic Lebanon, even including the racist aspects that are shared by a sizeable portion of the population, this Lebanon is also the country that the Syrian intellectual Yassin Al-Hafiz described as follows:
‘‘In Lebanon and with it, partly thanks to it, I reached a new, more advanced phase in the evolution of my politico-social-ideological consciousness. Not only did Lebanon shelter me when I had been something of a vagabond after nine and a half months in prison, I also soon began to feel, after a brief period in which I felt estranged, a warmth I had been missing for a long time. I began sleeping deeply, without the fear of visitors of the night haunting me. From Lebanon and in it alone were my books printed and my writings published. More than that: because of Lebanon, I became intimately connected to modern culture; I learned how to become less and less Eastern in the way I treated my wife and children, and I learned how to organize and regulate my work and how to manage my time. In the West, I had gotten an idea of modernity and had come into contact with it; in Lebanon, I tried- and I do not claim that I succeeded- while living in a high-pressure Eastern society, to practice it and turn it into my way of life. And so, when Lebanon started to burn, my sense of bereavement was two-fold. I felt that it was not only my country that was on fire, but my home as well, and that the calamity which struck Lebanon had come free. The direct and genuine reasons for which Lebanon went up in flames are many, but I have the impression that it met this fate because it had been a window into democracy, regardless of how spurious or polluted it seemed.’’
With differences in degree and scale, Lebanon is the closest an Arab country has come to the Weimar Republic, which did not find many defending it the way Yassin Al-Hafiz had defended Beirut.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 02-03/2022
In spinoff to protests, armed attacks target Iran police, Guards
AP/The Arab Weekly/October 02/2022
An attack by armed separatists on a police station in a southeastern city killed 19 people, including four members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday. The assailants in Friday's attack hid among worshippers near a mosque in the city of Zahedan and attacked the nearby police station, according to the report. IRNA quoted Hossein Modaresi, the provincial governor, as saying 19 people were killed. The outlet said 32 IRGC members, including volunteer Basiji forces, were also wounded in the clashes. It was not immediately clear if the attack was related to nationwide antigovernment protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the morality police in the capital of Tehran for allegedly wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf too loosely.
Sistan and Baluchestan province borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and has seen previous attacks on security forces by ethnic Baluchi separatists, although Saturday's Tasnim report did not identify a separatist group allegedly involved in the attack. IRNA on Saturday identified the dead as Hamidreza Hashemi, a Revolutionary Guard colonel; Mohammad Amin Azarshokr, a Guard member; Mohamad Amin Arefi, a Basiji, or volunteer force with the IRG; and Saeed Borhan Rigi, also a Basiji. Tasnim and other state-linked Iranian news outlets reported Friday that the head of the Guards' intelligence department, Seyyed Ali Mousavi, was shot during the attack and later died. It is not unusual for IRG members to be present at police bases around the country. The Guards' chief, Gen. Hossein Salami said the Revolutionary Guard will take revenge for the killing of its forces in Zahedan. “We consider revenge for the blood of the IRGC and Basiji martyrs and the people who were victims of the Black Friday crime in Zahedan to be on our agenda,” IRNA reported. The protesters have vented their anger over the treatment of women and wider repression in the Islamic Republic. The nationwide demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution. The protests have drawn supporters from various ethnic groups, including Kurdish opposition movements in the northwest that operate along the border with neighboring Iraq. Amini was an Iranian Kurd and the protests first erupted in Kurdish areas. Iranian state TV has reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the demonstrations began September 17. Also on Friday, Iran said it had arrested nine foreigners linked to the protests, which authorities have blamed on hostile foreign entities, without providing evidence. It has been difficult to gauge the extent of the protests, particularly outside of Tehran. Iranian media have only sporadically covered the demonstrations. Witnesses said scattered protests involving dozens of demonstrators took place Saturday around Tehran University in downtown Tehran. Riot police dispersed the protesters, who chanted “death to the dictator.” Some witnesses said police fired teargas. Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people expressed solidarity with the anti-governmental protests in Iran at demonstrations across Germany on Saturday, the dpa news agency reported. Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, meanwhile, reminded Iran’s armed forces of their duty to people’s lives and rights, the foreign-based opposition Telegram channel Kaleme reported. Mousavi's Green Movement challenged Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election in unrest at a level unseen since its 1979 Islamic Revolution before being crushed by authorities. “Obviously your capability that was awarded to you is for defending people, not suppression people, defending oppressed, not serving powerful people and oppressors,” he said.

UN: American Held in Iran Allowed to Leave, Son Freed from Detention
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 2 October, 2022
The United Nations said Saturday that an Iranian-American blocked from leaving Iran can now depart and that his son was released from detention. The United States has been pressing for the release of these two men and two other Americans amid efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major western powers. After an appeal from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Baquer Namazi, 85, "has been permitted to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad," and his son Siamak Namazi, 50, has been released from detention, AFP quoted UN spokesman Stephan Dujarric as saying. Baquer Namazi is a former UNICEF official who was detained in February 2016 when he went to Iran to press for the release of his son Siamak, who had been arrested in October of the previous year. Both were convicted of espionage in October 2016 and sentenced to ten years in prison. The father was released on medical leave in 2018 and had been serving his sentence under house arrest. The Namazis' lawyer Jared Genser confirmed the news of the release and said the younger Namazi is now at home with his parents in Tehran for the first time in seven years. "While these are critical first steps, we will not rest until the Namazis can all return to the United States and their long nightmare has finally come to an end," Genser said in a statement. In June of this year the younger Namazi published a column in The New York Times in which he called on President Joe Biden to strike a prisoner swap deal with Iran, even though talks on reviving the nuclear deal were at an impasse. The other two Americans held in Iran that Washington wants released are environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, 66, and businessman Emad Sharqi, 57. The drive to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal resumed in late November of last year, after talks were suspended in June as Iran elected ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi. The 2015 deal -- agreed by Iran, the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany -- offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. But the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed biting economic sanctions, prompting Tehran to begin rolling back on its commitments.

Iran says awaits unfreezing of $7 billion after releasing Americans
Agence France Presse/October 02/2022
Iran is awaiting the release of about $7 billion in funds frozen abroad, state media said Sunday, after it allowed an Iranian-American to leave the country and released his son from detention. Baquer Namazi, 85, was permitted to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad, and his son Siamak, 50, was released from detention in Tehran, the United Nations said on Saturday. "With the finalization of negotiations between Iran and the United States to release the prisoners of both countries, $7 billion of Iran's blocked resources will be released," the state news agency IRNA said. Billions of dollars in Iranian funds have been frozen in a number of countries -- notably China, South Korea and Japan -- since the U.S. reimposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic in 2018 after unilaterally withdrawing from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has accused Seoul of holding $7 billion of its funds "hostage", repeatedly calling on South Korean authorities to release it. IRNA on Sunday said that "Washington is pursuing at the same time the release of its citizens detained in Tehran and the release of Iranian funds in South Korea." The development comes as on-off talks have been underway since April 2021 to revive the 2015 deal that gave Iran much-needed sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program. Iran has repeatedly called for the lifting of sanctions, as well as guarantees that the United States will not again pull out of a revived deal. Baquer Namazi is a former UNICEF official who was detained in February 2016 when he went to Iran to press for the release of his son Siamak, who had been arrested in October of the previous year. Both were convicted of espionage in October 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The father was released on medical leave in 2018 and had been serving his sentence under house arrest.

Türkiye Strikes PKK Members in Northern Iraq Air Raid
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 2 October, 2022
Türkiye struck 23 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in an air raid some 140 kilometers into northern Iraq, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday. It said all the group had been "neutralized", which typically means killed. Türkiye regularly carries out cross-border air strikes, often with armed drones, in neighboring Iraq as part of its offensive against PKK there. On Thursday, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the military had hit 16 targets in air strikes that week in the same Asos region deep into Iraqi territory.

9 NATO Members Urge Support for Ukraine after Annexation
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 2 October, 2022
The heads of nine European NATO members on Sunday issued a joint statement backing a path to membership for Ukraine in the US-led security alliance, and calling on all 30 NATO nations to ramp up military aid for Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise move Friday to apply for fast-track NATO membership, in response to Russia's annexation of four regions of Ukraine. NATO membership needs approval from all 30 members and Ukraine is unlikely to join anytime soon. Being a country already at war complicates the request.
The nine NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe fearful that Russia could target them next if it isn't stopped in Ukraine urged a response to the annexation. The leaders of Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and Slovakia published a statement on their websites Sunday saying: “We support Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion, demand (that Russia) immediately withdraw from all the occupied territories and encourage all allies to substantially increase their military aid to Ukraine."It said the leaders “firmly stood behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit decision concerning Ukraine’s future membership.” At the 2008 summit, NATO members welcomed Ukraine and Georgia’s aspirations to join, but declined to provide a clear timeline for the two countries’ possible ascension. Sunday's letter didn't mention a timeline, either.
Asked Friday about Zelenskyy’s application for accelerated NATO membership, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the application process in Brussels “should be taken up at a different time.”NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was noncommittal when asked about Zelenskyy’s appeal to join.

Zelensky pledges to retake more of eastern Ukraine 'in a week'
Agence France Presse/October 02/2022
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has pledged to retake more areas in the country's eastern Donbas region from Russian forces. "Throughout this week, more Ukrainian flags have been raised in the Donbas. There will be even more in a week," he said in his evening address. He spoke after Kyiv said its forces had begun moving into the key eastern town of Lyman and the defense ministry posted a video of soldiers holding up a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag there. Russia's defense ministry said it had "withdrawn" troops from the town "to more favorable lines."
Zelensky told Russians they would be "killed one by one" as long as President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February, remained in power. "Until you all solve the problem with the one who started it all, who started this senseless war against Ukraine, you will be killed one by one," he said, calling the war "a historic mistake for Russia."

Report: Netanyahu Has Last Chance to Form Gov’t
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 2 October, 2022
Senior Likud politicians are plotting to dismiss party leader Benjamin Netanyahu if his bloc fails to win a majority in the upcoming elections. Top party members told the Times of Israel’s Hebrew site, Zman Yisrael, that Netanyahu would be offered almost full control of the party but keep him out of government, which would allow Likud to form a center-right coalition government with parties that are currently refusing to sit with the former prime minister. According to the emerging plan, which is being drafted behind Netanyahu’s back, he would remain head of the Likud party and be a senior member of the next Knesset, but would not be part of an envisaged unity government that would be formed with Benny Gantz and Gideon Saar’s National Unity party and other potential partners. In this scenario, Netanyahu would pick a Likud member to serve as prime minister in an agreed-upon rotation with Gantz.
Netanyahu has launched a vigorous election campaign, which has included meeting activists across the country, holding events and posting viral videos. However, most recent polls still predict a political stalemate in the November 1 vote, prompting prominent Likud politicians to prepare for a scenario in which Netanyahu’s bloc fails to reach the 61 seat majority it needs to form a government. Netanyahu’s bloc, made up of right-wing and religious parties, would reach 59 seats in the next Knesset, while the bloc of coalition parties led by Lapid would reach 57 seats in this scenario.
“Nobody wants a sixth election. Netanyahu doesn’t want to be seen as the reason for another round of elections,” a senior Likud Knesset member who supports the initiative told Zman Israel on condition of anonymity.
“We will reach an understanding that allows Netanyahu to serve as head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” the official said. “Netanyahu will also remain leader of the Likud party and will get to choose the ministers as if he’d won the elections. He will be able to continue with his ongoing trial. It’s none of our business.”
Netanyahu would be expected to reject such a move, having rejected similar plans in the past.
In September, he vowed to continue to lead his right-religious bloc should he fail to form a government. The Likud MK said that those involved in the plan hope it would placate Netanyahu and Gantz, who has vowed not to sit again with Netanyahu after being denied his turn as prime minister in a 2020-2021 coalition between the parties. “Netanyahu would monitor the ministers’ work from outside the government,” the MK concluded, “just like (Shas’s leader) Aryeh Deri did when he was not allowed to serve as a minister.”“The question is whether Gantz and his friends will agree to follow suit and won’t fear being tricked by Netanyahu again,” the official noted. “I think they might. What might convince them is that Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir won’t necessarily be part of this government,” the official said referring to the far-right Religious Zionism party. The Likud source also conceded that there could be difficulty getting other Likud members to agree to a scenario that could see one of their rivals appointed prime minister. “The only friction point will be about the identity of the alternate prime minister. Yariv Levin could be an acceptable candidate because he won the party’s primaries, but I’m not sure senior politicians like Nir Barkat or Israel Katz will let that happen, even if we’re only talking about a temporary role,” the official added. According to the report, the initiative has already been opposed by some in Likud. Barkat’s associates have demanded holding primaries for the Likud leadership in the event that Netanyahu doesn’t manage to reach 61 seats. An unnamed political associate of Barkat told Zman Yisrael earlier this week that “the Likud leadership is not interested in sixth elections. It won’t happen. If Netanyahu doesn’t reach a majority, we will demand new primaries. This isn’t a monarchy in which he passes on the baton to his heir. In such primaries, Barkat will beat everyone by a huge margin.”Asked what would happen if Netanyahu competes in such primaries and wins, the MK said: “Netanyahu will not compete in another round of Likud primaries if he fails to form a government.”
Another senior Likud figure told Zman Yisrael on Thursday that Levin (Likud), Zeev Elkin (National Unity), and Yitzhak Pindrus (United Torah Judaism) have recently met to discuss the initiative and the different potential scenarios. All three lawmakers denied holding such a meeting.

Venezuela Frees 7 Americans in Swap for Maduro Wife's Relatives
Asharq Al-Awsat/October 02/2022
In a rare softening of hostile relations, Caracas on Saturday freed seven detained Americans -- including five oil executives -- in exchange for the release of two nephews of Venezuela's first lady who were jailed in the United States for drug trafficking.
President Joe Biden issued the announcement that the Americans were on their way home. "Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, Jose Pereira, Matthew Heath, and Osman Khan," Biden said in a statement. The negotiated release of "two young Venezuelans" held in the United States was confirmed in a near-simultaneous statement by Caracas -- whose relations with Washington have been severely strained for years. While Venezuelan authorities did not name the pair, they were identified by the senior US official as Francisco Flores de Freitas and his cousin Efrain Antonio Campos Flores -- both nephews of President Nicolas Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores. "As a result of various conversations held since March 5 with representatives of the government of the United States, the release of two young Venezuelans unjustly imprisoned in that country has been achieved," said the communique from Caracas. Arrested in 2015 in a US sting operation in Haiti, the cousins were sentenced two years later to 18 years in prison for plotting to smuggle 800 kilos (1,760 pounds) of cocaine into the United States.The Venezuelan government says they were framed. Those freed include five employees of Houston-based Citgo — Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and Jose Pereira — who were lured to Venezuela right before Thanksgiving in 2017 to attend a meeting at the headquarters of the company's parent, state-run-oil giant PDVSA. Once there, they were hauled away by masked security agents who busted into a Caracas conference room. The men were convicted of embezzlement in 2020 in a trial marred by delays and irregularities and sentenced to between eight years and 13 years in prison for a never-executed proposal to refinance billions in the oil company’s bonds. Also released was Matthew Heath, a former US Marine corporal from Tennessee who was arrested in 2020 at a roadblock in Venezuela, and a Florida man, Osman Khan, who was arrested in January. The State Department had regarded all the men as wrongfully detained.

At least 174 dead in Indonesia football stadium stampede
Agence France Presse/October 02/2022
At least 174 people died at an Indonesian football stadium when thousands of angry home fans invaded the pitch and police responded with tear gas that triggered a stampede, authorities said Sunday. The tragedy on Saturday night in the city of Malang, which also left 180 injured, was one of the world's deadliest sporting stadium disasters. Arema FC supporters at the Kanjuruhan stadium stormed the pitch after their team lost 3-2 to the visiting team and bitter rivals, Persebaya Surabaya. Police, who described the unrest as "riots", said they tried to force fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two officers were killed. Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, according to police. At least 174 people died, East Java deputy governor Emil Dardak told broadcaster Kompas TV on Sunday afternoon, raising the toll from 129.Survivors described panicking spectators in a packed crowd as tear gas rained down on them. "Officers fired tear gas, and automatically people were rushing to come out, pushing each other and it caused many victims," 43-year-old spectator Doni, who declined to give his last name, told AFP. "Nothing was happening, there was no riot. I don't know what the issue was, they suddenly fired tear gas. That's what shocked me, didn't they think about kids, women?"President Joko Widodo ordered an investigation into the tragedy, a safety review into all football matches and directed the country's football association to suspend all matches until "security improvements" were completed. "I deeply regret this tragedy and I hope this football tragedy will be the last in our country," Widodo said. A hospital director told local TV that one of the victims was five years old. Images taken from inside the stadium during the stampede showed police firing huge amounts of tear gas and people clambering over fences. People were carrying injured spectators through the chaos. "It was so terrifying, so shocking," 22-year-old survivor Sam Gilang, who lost three friends in the crush, told AFP. "People were pushing each other and... many were trampled on their way to the exit gate. My eyes were burning because of the tear gas. I fortunately managed to climb up the fence and survived," he said.
Enduring violence
Video footage circulating on social media showed people shouting obscenities at police, who were holding riot shields and wielding batons. Torched vehicles, including a police truck, littered the streets outside the stadium on Sunday morning. Police said 13 vehicles in total were damaged. The stadium holds 42,000 people and authorities said it was a sell-out. Police said 3,000 people stormed the pitch. Fan violence is an enduring problem in Indonesia, where deep rivalries have previously turned into deadly confrontations. Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are longtime rivals. Persebaya Surabaya fans were not allowed to buy tickets for the game due to fears of violence. However Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Mahfud MD, said organizers ignored the recommendation of authorities to hold the match in the afternoon instead of the evening.
And he said the government had recommended only 38,000 tickets be printed, but there was instead a sell-out crowd of 42,000.
'Take some measures'
Before Widodo's announcement, the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) apologized to victims' families and suspended football matches of Indonesia's top league, BRI Liga 1, for one week. It also banned Arema FC from hosting home games for the rest of the season. The association had communicated with FIFA about the stampede and hopes to avoid sanctions from the world football governing body, PSSI secretary general Yunus Yussi told a press conference. On why police used tear gas inside the stadium, he said they "had to take some measures to anticipate" spectators entering the pitch.
The Asian Football Confederation, the governing body for football in the region, expressed its regret at the loss of lives in the disaster. Indonesia is to host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in May at six stadiums across the country. The Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang is not included in that list. It is also bidding to replace China as host of the 2023 Asian Cup alongside South Korea and Qatar, with a decision due later this month. Other stadium disasters include a 1989 crush in the stands at Britain's Hillsborough Stadium, which led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, and the 2012 Port Said stadium tragedy in Egypt where 74 people died in clashes. In 1964, 320 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during a stampede at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier at Lima's National Stadium.

Libya’s Unity Gov’t Held Responsible for Civilian Casualties West of Tripoli
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 2 October, 2022
The Libyan Crimes Watch (LCW) organization held the interim unity government, headed by Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, responsible for the civilian casualties in the recent clashes between armed groups at al-Zawiya city, west of Tripoli. It issued a statement on its official Facebook page, in which it called on the Attorney General to probe the recent clashes, prosecute, and hold accountable those responsible for endangering the lives of civilians. “We monitored the armed clashes between elements from the unity government’s Defense Ministry and a group affiliated with the Zawiya Security Directorate,” the statement read, noting that clashes lasted for more than 12 hours in residential neighborhoods south of the city. The organization further said it monitored the death of a 9-year-old girl and another six-year old Egyptian child and the injury of at least 10 civilians.
It also called on the independent Fact-Finding Mission in Libya to open an urgent investigation into these “horrific” violations against civilians and work to ensure that perpetrators are punished for their crimes. US Asserts 'Managing' Oil Revenues to 'Support Libyan People' US officials focused on the "management of Libya's oil revenues" in their meetings with interim Libyan unity government officials, headed by Abdel Hamid Dbeibeh and the governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL). A statement by the US embassy said that a delegation that included US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Joshua Harris, and Chargé d'Affaires Leslie Ordeman, met in Tunisia with CBL governor Siddiq el-Kaber. They discussed efforts to enhance financial transparency and promote economic stability. They agreed on the importance of ensuring that Libya's resources provide essential services and support the Libyan people. Kaber said that the meeting dealt with global economic challenges and CBL efforts to increase transparency and achieve financial and monetary sustainability in Libya. In a second statement, the US embassy announced a meeting between Ordeman and a delegation from the Dbeibeh government, led by Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Adel Juma, to discuss the importance of enhancing financial transparency and combating corruption. Regarding the meeting, the US embassy announced in a tweet that the US "looks forward to building on this important conversation. We agreed that Libyan revenues belong to all of its people and must be distributed transparently and with accountability."Meanwhile, the Zawiya Court of Appeal accepted the petition submitted by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Public Property Authority, Samir al-Belazi, against Dbeibeh's decision.
Earlier, the head of the Presidential Council, Mohammed Menfi, sent a letter to Dbeibeh asking him to keep the real estate registration system closed until the current transitional stages are completed. In the letter, which was leaked to local media, Menfi demanded that the role of the authority during the transitional period be limited to administrative work only. In addition, 32 members of the House of Representatives (HoR) from the eastern region demanded its speaker, Aguila Saleh, hold a live session to discuss the country's unamended 1951 constitution and return to the federal system based on the three historical regions. The statement called on HOR members to support this request, pointing out that the referendum on the draft constitution completed by the Constitution Drafting Assembly has failed. Furthermore, Egypt's Permanent Representative at the UN Ambassador Osama Abdel-Khalek affirmed his country's full support to the UN envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathiliy, in his new mission. Abdel-Khalek met with the UN envoy in New York, during which he stressed the international community's reliance on Bathiliy's constructive efforts to advance the political process in Libya during the current critical stage the country is going through.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 02-03/2022
ريموند إبراهيم: معهد كايتسون: قائمة بحوادث اضطهاد المسيحيين في العديد من الدول خلال شهر آب/2022/ كيف ينظر لضحايا الإغتصاب الجنسي
How Victims of Rape Are Viewed: The Persecution of Christians, August 2022
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/October 02, 2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112418/112418/
When the 12-year-old girl was produced at court and said that she had converted of her free will and married her Muslim kidnapper, the judge—ignoring the girl’s young age and distraught demeanor—ordered the accused released and the girl returned to him, even though there was massive contrary evidence to indicate that the girl was being coerced to lie under duress. The evidence included a voice recording of her Muslim husband threatening to butcher the girl’s two brothers if she failed to support him in court. — Morningstar News, August 23, 2022, Pakistan.
“Police and judiciary tend to support those who commit crimes such as forced conversions, child marriages and sexual violence because they believe they will receive a heavenly reward for helping convert someone to Islam, regardless of how intentional or coercive the conversion is.” — Sherkan Malik, human rights activist, Morningstar News, August 23, 2022, Pakistan.
“In the rare cases where a girl is returned to her family, the culprits are never held accountable. In other words, the supposedly law-preserving authorities act as implicit, if not explicit, partner in such heinous crimes.” — Report, copticsolidarity.org, August 9, 2022, Egypt.
“I am writing to you out of deep concern for the safety and well-being of the indigenous Coptic women and minor girls in Egypt who have been increasingly targeted for trafficking, forced marriage, and forced conversion.” — Petition, copticsolidarity.org, August 9, 2022, Egypt.
[T]hroughout the month of August… a total of eleven Coptic churches in Egypt supposedly “caught fire,” none of which was reported in the Western press…. In every one of those eleven fires, Egyptian authorities denied arson as a possible cause, citing instead “natural” or accidental causes such as faulty wiring, electric overloads, and so on, even though there was obvious foul play in at least one case…. — copticsolidarity.org, August 31, 2022, Egypt.
“Constant killings and maiming of innocent Christians by terrorists and herdsmen bandits [Muslim Fulani] have become very common here in Taraba state,” said Ayuba Matthew, a local. “So also, kidnappings of Christians has become a problem.” — Morningstar News, August 17, 2022, Nigeria.
“Incitement against the Copts is daily in Egypt! Accusing the Copts of being infidels [kuffar] is daily in Egypt! Mockery of Christianity and the sacred things of Christianity and the accusation that the Bible is distorted [moharraf] occurs daily in Egypt!” — Magdi Khalil, noted author, YouTube, August 15, 2022, Egypt.
“They forced me to sing Christian songs as they began chopping off my husband’s hand.” …. Apparently fearful of worse repercussions, the “family has yet to file a police report.” — Morningstar News, August 16, 2022, Egypt.
A recent video report found that, although Christians make up only 1.6% of the Muslim nation’s population, they account for 90% of Islamabad’s sanitation workers…. [M]any sanitation job listings in Pakistan often advertise “for non-Muslims only”: working in garbage all day is for “infidels,” not ritually clean Muslims. — dw.com and Morningstar News, August 11, 2022, Pakistan.
Although deemed by some Westerners as a relatively progressive Arab nation, Qatar continues to indoctrinate its children with hate for and violence against “infidels,” including Christians and Jews…. — impact-se.org, July 2022, Qatar.
Although deemed by some Westerners as a relatively progressive Arab nation, Qatar continues to indoctrinate its children with hate for and violence against “infidels,” including Christians and Jews. Pictured: The skyline of Qatar’s capital Doha.
The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of August 2022:
The Jihad on Christian Girls
Pakistan: After refusing to review evidence from a Christian couple trying to recover their 12-year-old daughter from a married Muslim man accused of kidnapping her and forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him, Muslim judge Sadaqat Ali Khan threw the case out of court on Aug. 18.
When the parents first reported the kidnapping, her kidnapper, Imran Shahzad and his wife Adiba, were brought in for questioning. However, when the 12-year-old girl was produced at court and said that she had converted of her free will and married her Muslim kidnapper, the judge—ignoring the girl’s young age and distraught demeanor—ordered the accused released and the girl returned to him, even though there was massive contrary evidence to indicate that the girl was being coerced to lie under duress.
The evidence included a voice recording of her Muslim husband threatening to butcher the girl’s two brothers if she failed to support him in court. Discussing the more recent appeals hearing, one human rights activist involved with the case, Sherkan Malik, said:
“The judge dismissed our petition in under two minutes—he even refused to look at any of the evidence, which clearly showed that the minor child was threatened to give a statement in favor of the accused, Imran Shahzad and his wife Adiba… The sessions court completely ignored her birth certificate, church registration documents and school certifications which confirmed her age as 12 [the legal age to marry under the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act is 16]…. Police and judiciary tend to support those who commit crimes such as forced conversions, child marriages and sexual violence because they believe they will receive a heavenly reward for helping convert someone to Islam, regardless of how intentional or coercive the conversion is.”
Egypt: On Sunday, Aug. 7, another minor Christian girl “disappeared” on her way to attend morning mass. Abigail Magdy Zakaria’s phone was later discovered turned off. Her parents quickly informed the National Security Agency, which, however, “did not give any indication of pursuing the issue,” said the report, before adding:
“Disappearance of Coptic girls, a rampant phenomenon in Egypt over the past three decades, that qualifies under international law as ‘human trafficking,’ has become worse in recent years. Typically, organized Islamic groups target certain girls to lure and convert them to Islam. The police and state security agency often turn a blind eye to such crimes and may even help whisk the victim to Al-Azhar’s conversion office to complete the official conversion certificate in record time. In the rare cases where a girl is returned to her family, the culprits are never held accountable. In other words, the supposedly law-preserving authorities act as implicit, if not explicit, partner in such heinous crimes.”
In response to this latest and many more kidnappings of Christian girls in Egypt, on Aug. 9, Coptic Solidarity issued the following petition (sign here):
“I am writing to you out of deep concern for the safety and well-being of the indigenous Coptic women and minor girls in Egypt who have been increasingly targeted for trafficking, forced marriage, and forced conversion. This serious human rights abuse has been well-documented with former traffickers confirming that the networks are coordinated by Imams of local mosques and with the complicity of Egyptian police, and that traffickers are paid for every Coptic female they kidnapped. This targeting and forced conversion of Coptic women is an intentional form of genocide… lowering the number of Christians in Egypt and ensuring that their children are raised as Muslims. More recently Egyptian police have ‘found’ abducted women, but only after enough international pressure and media attention was garnered in specific cases such as those of married women with children such as Ranya ‘Abd al-Masih and Mary Wahib Joseph who were abducted, forced to wear a hijab and record videos claiming leaving their homes and converting to Islam of their own free will, despite the women clearly being under duress in the recordings. Several other minor girls have also been recently recovered. These women are fortunate in that they represent a very small minority of trafficked Coptic women who are recovered. YET, in every instance, the circumstances of them being ‘found’ and returned to their families is extremely murky, and not a single individual involved in the trafficking has been held to account by Egyptian police or the judiciary. I respectfully urge you to raise the epidemic of trafficking of Coptic women and girls…
Nigeria: On Aug. 14, two Muslims tried to rape a 16-year-old Christian girl, but were prevented by her mother’s forceful intervention. The Christian women were walking towards their farmland when the Muslim men approached them. “They told us to stop,” the mother said during a recent interview. “Then the Fulani [Muslim herdsmen] beat me and injured me… I was trying to stop them from raping my daughter.” While explaining, she simulated the incident by repeatedly raising her arm, which had a deep gash suffered from the militants’ hacking blades. The girl was unable to participate in the interview and “was traumatized and crying throughout the visit.”
This is not the first time for the Muslim Fulani to harm these Christian women. In 2017, they raided their village and killed 29 other Christians, displacing the rest of the villagers. The mother, however, seemed only grateful to have been able to shield “her daughter from public disgrace and shame, which is often how victims of rape are viewed in their society.”
“I have nothing to say but thank God. Please tell Christian[s] to pray for me and my daughter. Pray that we will return to our village one day because life is too expensive for us in the city.”
Jihadist Slaughter of Christians
Egypt: On Aug. 30, Muslims murdered two Christians, a father and son. The two were shot dead while working on their farm by suspected Islamic State militants in Sinai. Waheeb, the elder, left behind five children; his son, Hany, who was killed by his side, is survived by a wife and two daughters. The Islamic State, active in Sinai, has vowed to “wipe out” Egypt’s Christian community, and has killed many.
Mozambique: Muslims beheaded two Christians during a raid on a minibus. The murders were later claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) of Mozambique, known locally as al-Shabaab (“the youth,” not to be confused with Somalia’s Islamic terror group of the same name). A statement by the jihadists declared, “By the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers of the Caliphate … killed two Christians, beheading them, and shooting them with weapons.” According to the report,
“Islamists gained effective control of an area of Cabo Delgado in 2017. The province has since been termed ‘the Land of Fear’ owing to brutal violence meted out against both Christians and moderate Muslims. Mozambican and Southern African Development Community forces had started to drive the Islamists back in late 2021. However, the Islamist insurgency now appears to be spreading. In June 2021, ISIS-Mozambique claimed responsibility for the ‘beheading of several Christians’ in Cabo Delgado. Another was beheaded during a raid on a Christian village in the neighboring province of Nampula.”
Nigeria: At least 20 others Christians were slaughtered in the first two weeks of August during Islamic attacks on Christian villages. Ayuba Matthew, a local, said:
“Constant killings and maiming of innocent Christians by terrorists and herdsmen bandits [Muslim Fulani] have become very common here in Taraba state. So also, kidnappings of Christians has become a problem.”
The constant depredations have further “displaced more than 10,000 people from the predominantly Christian villages.”
Discussing the ongoing jihad on Nigeria’s Christians, Johan Viljoen, director of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI), of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said:
“I am shocked [at the spate of kidnappings] because I know many priests and religious in that part of the country. We are dealing here with a sustained campaign to wipe out Christianity in general and the Catholic church in particular. No Christian is safe.”
Like many other Christian leaders in Africa, he accused the Muslim president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, of being complicit in the nonstop Fulani attacks:
“No ‘armed gunmen’ are ever arrested or stand trial. His government has stood for the right of ‘cattle herders’ to occupy any land. Governors who have tried to rein them in face opposition from the federal government.”
Similarly, Marcela Szymanski, head of advocacy for Aid to the Church in Need International, said,
“Islamist extremists and criminals in Nigeria abduct the sole providers of social services to the most vulnerable, leaving thousands destitute and hungry,” even as the Buhari government “looks the other way, and the West calls them ‘preferred partners’ because they have oil and gas!…. It is likely that members of the party in power get kickbacks from oil [companies]; they couldn’t care less about the starvation of their own citizens! We see the same pattern in most mineral-rich nations, who count among the poorest in the world.”
Death to and in Churches
Egypt: On Sunday, Aug. 14, the Church of Abu Seifein—named after Saint Mercurius of Caesarea—caught fire as it was packed with over two hundred worshippers celebrating morning mass. At least 41 Christians—18 of whom were children—were either burned alive or killed by asphyxiation. Five-year-old triplets, their mother, grandmother, and an aunt were among those killed, along with the officiating priest. According to one report, “Eyewitnesses said firetrucks and ambulances arrived to the site over one hour after signaling the fire, even though they’re stationed in [a] nearby street,” which caused more lives needlessly to be lost. Despite radical Muslims having torched or bombed hundreds of Coptic churches over the decades in Egypt—62 churches in 2013 alone— what was presented as the official cause, only minutes after the fire department finally arrived, was “faulty electric wiring,” even though, as many critics pointed out, it takes a serious, prolonged investigation before such a determination can be made—not minutes.
Equally telling is that all throughout the month of August—particularly within the dates of an important religious season—a total of eleven Coptic churches in Egypt supposedly “caught fire,” none of which was reported in the Western press (apparently because no one died in these fires, some of which were major, while others were minor or caught early enough to prevent serious damage, thanks to heightened vigilance among the Christians themselves).
In every one of those eleven fires, Egyptian authorities denied arson as a possible cause, citing instead “natural” or accidental causes such as faulty wiring, electric overloads, and so on, even though there was obvious foul play in at least one case: Two days after the fire that killed 41 Christians, on Aug. 16, witnesses saw someone on the balcony of a residential building adjacent to the Church of Saint Mary the Egyptian hurl some combustible substance onto the top floor of the church. Christians quickly put it out and called the authorities but instead of blaming the apartment in question—and thus risking worse by way of “reprisals”—the church diplomatically asked the authorities to investigate with due diligence, especially the nearby building. The only thing that came out of it was another flaming object hurled onto the church on Aug 21.
In a recent program dedicated to discussing the plight of churches in Egypt, the prolific Egyptian writer and researcher, Magdi Khalil observed that of the 3,000 or so churches in Egypt, over the past 50 years hundreds have been torched. Meanwhile, although there are at least half a million mosques and prayer halls in Egypt, not one has ever burned due to “faulty electric wiring,” or similar claims.
Other numbers further underscore the extreme discrimination against churches in Egypt: about 90 million Muslims have half a million mosques, whereas 10 million Christians have a mere 3,000 churches. Little wonder churches are always cramped fire hazards.
After pointing out that those who target Christians in Egypt rarely if ever suffer any consequences, Khalil, exclaimed, “Incitement against the Copts is daily in Egypt! Accusing the Copts of being infidels [kuffar] is daily in Egypt! Mockery of Christianity and the sacred things of Christianity and the accusation that the Bible is distorted [moharraf] occurs daily in Egypt!”
Nigeria: A Muslim gang “shot their way onto the site of St. Agnes Catholic Church in Dinya village.” According to the parish priest, the Rev. Lawrence Awua:
“[The] terrorists broke into the premises of our church on Sunday, Aug. 14, as we were already in our bedrooms. They were shooting indiscriminately in the premises of the church. Our catechist, Mr. Gideon Tsehemba, was forcefully dragged out of the church with a gun pointed at him. I was already in my bedroom, but they thought there was no one around except the catechist.”
Elsewhere in Nigeria on the same Sunday afternoon (Aug. 14), according to a local, Muslims shot and severely wounded a Christian:
“Mr. Faga was returning to his home from his church after worship service at about 2 p.m. when the terrorists shot him. He’s currently receiving treatment in a local hospital here.”
Generic Hate for and Abuse of Christians
Uganda: Muslims cut off the hand of an apostate from Islam. More than a month earlier, on June 17, Musa John Kasadah, a 42-year-old married father of six children, left Islam and embraced Christianity after attending an open-air event comparing both religions. Before long, local Muslims, including some siblings, noticed that he and his family had stopped attending Friday mosque prayers. The pastor who led Musa and his family to Christ began to receive threatening messages, including:
“It has come to our attention that Musa Kasadah and the family are attending your church. This should stop immediately, otherwise your church is at risk.”
The pastor responded by helping Musa and his family clandestinely relocate to the plantation of a local official. The persistent jihadists nevertheless tracked them down. On July 26, four Muslims intercepted and accosted Musa and his family in a field near their temporary home:
“You thought that we shall not get hold of you? We have been tracking you from the house of [the local official] to here, and today is your last day to be alive. Allah has given you into our hands.”
“They started beating my husband and then got hold of me and tied me up,” said Musa’s wife, Asiya. “They forced me to sing Christian songs as they began chopping off my husband’s hand.” During this torture session, one of the Muslims “took a long Somali sword and began cutting off his hand, intending to kill him.”
“After chopping off his hand and part of his forearm, a truck arrived with sugarcane workers, and the assailants disappeared into the plantation.”
The truck drivers helped to arrange an ambulance to take the family to a nearby hospital. Apparently fearful of worse repercussions, the “family has yet to file a police report.”
Egypt: Authorities seized a four-year-old child from his adoptive Christian parents on a technicality of Islamic law. Four years ago, a Coptic priest heard cries coming from inside his empty church. He discovered a newborn baby boy, apparently abandoned by a mother who bore him out of wedlock. The priest entrusted the newborn babe to a childless couple from his congregation. Considering that they had been praying for 29-years to give them a child, they joyously embraced the boy as their own and baptized and named him Shenouda, a popular Coptic name. For the next four years everything went well. Shenouda became the pride and joy of his adoptive parents’ lives. Seeing him as a “gift from God,” they spared no care or expense on his upbringing.
Then the Egyptian state learned about this happy development and authorities seized the 4-year-old child from his loving parents’ arms and sent him to an orphanage. Although adoption is illegal in Egypt (based on an innovation of Muhammad’s) there are state-approved ways for families to take custody of orphan children. In the present case, however, the primary argument being used by the state against Shenouda’s adoptive parents’ legal attempts to reclaim the boy revolves around religion.
Because Islam teaches that every human is born as a Muslim (until their parents conform them to their own religion), and because the religious identity of Shenouda’s biological parents is unknown, he must, therefore, be considered a Muslim; and entrusting Muslim children to non-Muslim parents is strictly forbidden.
Since being transferred to an overcrowded and underfed orphanage, the child was forcibly “returned” to Islam. He was issued a birth certificate—marked “Muslim” under religion—and given an acceptable Muslim name, Yusuf. Meanwhile, logic suggests that Shenouda was born to a Christian mother—or at least to a mother who thought Christians would best know how to raise her unwanted child. Otherwise, why abandon the baby in a church?
Pakistan: A recent video report found that, although Christians make up only 1.6% of the Muslim nation’s population, they account for 90% of Islamabad’s sanitation workers. This is thought to be in keeping with Koran injunctions, especially Koran 9:29, which calls on Muslims to fight “the People of the Book,” meaning Christians and Jews, until they pay tribute (jizya) and are always made to feel “fully humbled.” This is also why many sanitation job listings in Pakistan often advertise “for non-Muslims only”: working in garbage all day is for “infidels,” not ritually clean Muslims. Another report notes:
“Most sanitation workers in Pakistan are Christian…. Christian sanitation workers are routinely called derogatory terms such as Choora [slur for “Christian” and/or “low class” people]… and face sexual harassment, discrimination, nonpayment of salaries, irregular work contracts and extortion by senior officers…. Christian workers, particularly women, also have to face harassment by Muslim supervisors… They know that these poor workers cannot do anything against them, hence the harassment is continuing unabated … Social security law guarantees compensation for those who die on duty, but the families of Christian sanitation workers are not paid the full amount.”
In one instance, a Christian sanitary worker died because observant Muslim doctors who were fasting for Ramadan recoiled from treating the “unclean” infidel after the 30-year-old fell unconscious while cleaning sewage and was rushed to a governmental hospital. “The doctors refused to treat him because they were fasting and said my son was napaak [unclean],” said the mother of the deceased.
In another instance, a 20-year-old Christian sanitation worker was murdered after he refused to work on a Sunday for religious reasons. “Many Muslims find it hard to accept refusal by a ‘lowly’ Christian,” a Christian rights activist said.
“This is not the first time a Christian sanitary worker has been killed or subjected to violence for refusing to comply with unjust demands of persons from the Muslim majority.”
Qatar: Although deemed by some Westerners as a relatively progressive Arab nation, Qatar continues to indoctrinate its children with hate for and violence against “infidels,” including Christians and Jews. In 2020, a study found that Qatari textbooks and curriculum promoted several hate-filled ideas against Jews and Christians. On revisiting them in a more recent report, however, the same organization found that, while making some improvements regarding how other monotheists are portrayed, Qatari texts and curriculum were still problematic. They included teaching children the “great virtues” of jihad and martyrdom, as well as the importance of never befriending—but rather always hating—Jews, Christians, and all non-Muslims, to whom it still refers collectively as “infidels” (or Islam’s natural born enemies, kuffar).
Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any given month.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18946/persecution-of-christians-august

Has Putin Won?
Tariq Al-Homayed/ Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/October, 02/ 2022
President Vladimir Putin signing the decree annexing the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, after having held internationally unrecognized referendums in those regions, raises an important question: Has Putin won? Has he achieved any victories at all?
To answer this question, President Putin wants to push the idea that he has won, especially domestically. However, annexing more than 15 percent of Ukraine seven months into the war cannot be considered a victory, as the series of events that have unfolded there are embarrassing to the Russians.
Moreover, the annexation of these Ukrainian regions, the largest annexation in Europe since World War Two, was rejected internationally. In fact, the Chinese ambassador to the UN said that “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every country must be respected.” Turkey also refused to recognize the annexation, considering it a “grave violation” of international law.
It is not easy to overlook the annexation of 15 percent of a European state in such a war. Furthermore, what is the explanation for this invasion and annexation of four Ukrainian regions, especially since President Putin denies seeking to reestablish the Soviet Union while stressing that he is committed to defending Russian “territory and values.” The fact of the matter is that developments on the ground in Ukraine are not exactly going in Russia’s favor. At the time of writing, Ukrainian forces are entering the Eastern town of Lyman, a city Donetsk that had been annexed by the Russians. Lyman is considered pivotal for Moscow, and losing it is a blow to the Russians.
In addition, it is becoming clear that announcing this annexation is intended to be a declaration of victory directed at a domestic audience and to paper over the news of Russian losses on the ground in Ukraine, as well as being an attempt to enhance Russia’s negotiating position once the war is over.
This is all happening as we await the winter, the point at which the Russians will find out just how much patience the Europeans have and whether they can handle the freezing cold without Russian gas. Moscow hopes that the harsh winter will create reverberations across the European Union and even create political cleavages. The Europeans hope to overcome the coming winter without Russian gas. What European sources told me in New York days ago indicates that Europe is determined to endure the coming hardships of this winter. Their primary objective now is ensuring that Putin does not emerge victorious and that they overcome their dependence on Russian energy.
And so, all the factions need to buy time, including the US administration awaiting the Midterm results that will determine just how much room it has to maneuver. Everyone needs to buy time to enhance their strengths and overcome their weaknesses, including the Russian president. For this reason, talk of victory and defeat is premature. As I wrote in the past, it is difficult to define victory and defeat in Ukraine, and Russia is dealing with complex issues.
The most difficult of these issues by far, regardless of how the war ends, is how to remove the over 15,000 sanctions that have been imposed on the country.
To conclude, the Russians are in a hole, and they keep digging. And the saying goes: If you find yourself in a hole, you must stop digging immediately. Thus, there is still a long way to go before we can talk about guaranteed outcomes for any of the sides in Ukraine.

Tesla’s Big Batteries Aren’t the Fire Problem. Lithium Is
Anjani Trivedi/Bloomberg/October, 02/ 2022
When a Tesla Inc. battery caught fire at an energy storage facility that helps power California last week, critics were quick to pounce. Michael Burry of “The Big Short” fame, who called the mid-2000s housing collapse correctly, hit out at the EV maker.
Blaming Elon Musk’s firm for a bad battery misses the point, however. Instead, we need to ask whether lithium-ion powerpacks — typically used in consumer electronics and electric vehicles — should be used for such energy storage at all. Just because these work well on a small scale doesn’t mean they’re appropriate for large set-ups. These big, stationary batteries are used to store energy from renewable and other sources, for use when demand is peaking and importantly, for grid stability. With a power crisis looming, these packs are being used more frequently. In California, for instance, they now contribute 60 times more to peak capacity than five years ago, which is more than nuclear and wind. In the US, installations tripled last year, while they are on the rise globally, too.
This isn’t the first incident, either. Across the world, grid-scale batteries are combusting because of issues like overheating and manufacturing defects. There have been several such fires in South Korea, along with one at an RV park in Rio Dell, in China and in rural Australia, among others. The common thread is that these are mostly lithium-ion chemistry, now the most prevalent type in energy storage systems.
The large-scale use comes with significant risks, although most modern power systems choose this formulation because it boasts higher energy density, as well as greater charging and discharging efficiency. However, lithium-ion batteries have a volatile, flammable electrolyte. So, while there are safeguards to avoid fires, all the combustible ingredients are still there. Flames can accelerate through chain reactions, known as thermal runaway.
Big batteries are made up of several cells packed together. Current is constantly flowing inside, which generates heat. If there are no barriers between the components, a failure in one part quickly cascades through. While elaborate (and critical) equipment for cooling the system is put in place, it draws on the energy of the actual powerpack and reduces its output. In addition, when charged, a coat of lithium metal can form on the surface and dendrites, or needle-like structures can grow, and lead to short-circuits.
There are other considerations, too. For instance, in its review of battery failures in 2019 and 2012, the Arizona State Commission pointed to reports of “fires with 10 feet to 15 feet flame lengths that grew into 50 feet to 75 feet flame lengths appearing to be fed by flammable liquids coming from the cabinets.” After one incident, it took nearly three months to discharge the stranded energy.
This isn’t just a call to remember safety or alarmism over fires. The danger in the widespread use of this technology is real. The world’s foremost battery producer, China, last year put in motion a plan to stop the use of certain types of lithium-ion-based storage systems after incidents, including one related to Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Earlier this year, the country’s National Energy Administration released a paper on safety of electricity generation, calling for a ban on some formulations of mid-to-large powerpacks.
There are viable alternatives. However, policy makers and firms seem to have prematurely decided that lithium-ion is the one when it comes to this crucial technology. They should instead analyze the data and risks as more capacity comes online. Safety standards and testing methods are changing. No one wants to be the first mover on other types of grid-scale batteries that are capital-intensive and haven’t yet been widely used.
Sure, some of the options are very large or not as efficient, or require additional support systems that make them a bit more expensive. However, the margin on these comparative metrics is small enough that we can put safety front and center, especially as usage rises. This doesn’t mean a retreat to older types; the chemistries are also improving, meaning manufacturers are working to raise energy density for these formulations. Vanadium redox batteries, for instance, have a low levelized cost, are scalable, don’t degrade and there is no risk of combustion. These powerpacks use recycled metal from petroleum waste and can be charged and discharged without wearing out.
Then there are liquid metal batteries invented by MIT’s Donald Sadoway, made from molten materials(1). The Bill Gates-backed technology operates at high temperatures and doesn’t use combustible materials, so there is no fire risk. Several others — including those made using organic compounds — are also in the works. The cell-level cost of these is far lower than lithium ion. These batteries are a crucial part of the energy transition. But the disruptive technology can be hard to digest, and investors are often too focused on headline factors like density, life cycle or the kilowatt-hour at the expense of serious safety concerns. With lithium prices hitting records, there isn’t enough of the metal to power the future, anyway. Systems will need to diversify, so it’s time to look for technologies that we can all live with — without the looming risk of fire, exorbitant costs or blackouts.

West must act as Iranian regime cracks down
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/October 02/2022
Widespread protests in Iran, which are primarily due to people’s dissatisfaction with the regime’s political repression, restrictive religious laws, human rights violations and economic hardships, have shaken the core of the theocratic establishment.
The latest protests have a distinct character and are not just limited to the regime’s repressive restrictions on women’s rights. Mohsen Mahdian, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, admitted: “The events that happened in these two days are unprecedented. These protests were unprecedented in the last 40 years. Why unprecedented, because there has never been a period of protests in such a way that you can see violence and disturbance from the first hour. The real story is not the hijab, the story is not about the morality police or the death of Mahsa (Amini), they are targeting the system. And this is obvious in their slogans if you analyze them logically over the past two days. You will understand that the slogans are clearly saying that our problem is not the issues that have been said, it is the principle of the rule.”
The Iranian regime has resorted to its modus operandi of employing brutal force to crack down on the demonstrators, vilifying the protesters and crushing the opposition. Amnesty International stated that it has recorded “the deaths of dozens of men, women and children killed by the security forces. The organization believes the real death toll is higher and is continuing its efforts to identify victims.” It has also documented “sexual assaults and other gender-based violence by security forces, including violently pulling women by the hair because they removed their headscarves.”
Besides killing protesters, the regime has arrested hundreds of people, including human rights defenders, political activists and lawyers, as well as journalists.
Four institutions appear to be playing a crucial role in the crackdown: The judiciary, the intelligence community, the security forces and the IRGC. To enforce the law, these branches of the government also utilize voluntary and paid paramilitaries and militias, such as the Basij.
More importantly, the authorities have cut off internet access in order to isolate the Iranian people from the rest of the world and prevent the news and horrific videos of the regime’s brutality from spreading beyond its borders. UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva: “We are concerned that the disruption to communications services has serious effects on people’s ability to exchange information, to carry out economic activities and to access public services. This undermines numerous human rights, notably the right to freedom of expression. We call on the authorities to fully restore internet access.”
Iran’s protest movement is threatened by suppressive measures that are already being dramatically escalated by the regime.
When it comes to cracking down on internet users, the IRGC’s cyber unit is most likely involved. The Supreme Council of Cyberspace was set up in 2012 in order to centralize and more efficiently monitor internet users. The Iranian government was previously labeled an “enemy of the internet” by Reporters Without Borders. The same group and the Committee to Protect Journalists have also labeled Tehran one of the worst enemies of press freedom.
It is worth noting that the people of Iran have become fearless and are quite capable of confronting the regime’s forces of suppression on their own. The US and Europe do not need to intervene directly or attempt to actively shape the protest movement. However, Western governments should recognize they have a responsibility to level the playing field in areas that are out of reach for the opposition’s resistance units.
Iran’s protest movement is threatened by suppressive measures that are already being dramatically escalated by the regime. The US and Europe have the tools to provide large segments of the Iranian population with reliable internet access. This would help them to go on organizing their demonstrations and countering the IRGC’s efforts to shut down all activism, while also allowing citizen journalists and the general public to reveal the true extent of the protests.
In addition, the international community must act to hold the regime’s authorities accountable and end the impunity they have long enjoyed. As Amnesty International pointed out: “We ask all the people of the world to sign our global petition and demand decisive action from their leaders. An independent investigative and accountability mechanism must be established by the UN Human Rights Council for the most serious crimes under international law committed by the Iranian authorities. People in Iran deserve more than empty words. The crisis of systemic impunity that has long prevailed in the country must end, and it must end now.”
If the West acts, not only can it save thousands of lives in Iran, but it also stands to gain a great deal from such a move.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist.
Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Trouble at home will hinder Iran’s export of its revolution
Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/October 02/2022
Despite the customary anti-Western rhetoric and character of Iran’s foreign policy, the chief calculation of its government since 1979 has been the export of its revolution. Specifically, this has meant the exportation of Velayat-e faqih — or guardianship of the jurist — in an effort to extend the de jure rule of a Shiite clergy over a larger geographical expanse.
In reality, this has often been confused and at times contradicted by long-standing geopolitical factors, ethnic and religious fault lines and Iran’s own economic concerns. Now, four decades after the revolution, the contradictions are growing and Iran’s muscular overseas policy lies in the balance, as the regime Ayatollah Khomeini ordained shows signs of aging.
Over the last fortnight, Iran has been racked by protests. Average Iranians, most aged little over 30 and so too young to have monarchical nostalgia, have taken the public outpouring of anger at the death of Mahsa Amini to voice their opposition toward Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Guardian Council, which is appointed by the clergy. The struggle has been described as a face-off between subjugated and liberal women and an uncaring and out-of-touch theocracy. However, it actually embodies a wider identity crisis that the regime is going through.
Though the events of 1979 are remembered as the “Islamic Revolution,” in reality it brought together different disaffected sections of society, including intellectuals, communists and urbane academics. The presidential system that was installed thereafter was a reflection of this, as are the elected parliament and the Assembly of Experts. However, this presidential system has all but buckled under the pressure of the unelected supreme leader and Guardian Council, whose paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ceased being the vanguard of the revolution but rather adopted the role of unaccountable security force and foreign legion.
Repeated mass protests, which are being met with state violence and counter “hard-liner” mobilization, are a barometer of the increasing social disquiet that the regime has not been able to contain. It is remarkable, therefore, that, as the regime sought to gain the upper hand last week and restore order, the Revolutionary Guards conducted a missile and armed drone strike in Iraq. At the same time, Iran’s proxies in Yemen hosted a large-scale military parade, during which they showcased a variety of Iranian-produced missiles and drones, and in Lebanon recruitment flyers called for Persian-speaking militiamen to travel to Iran. These actions show there is no let-up in the regime’s overseas ambitions and activities.
It is no surprise that, at this moment of crisis, Iranian authorities have blamed the unrest on “rioters” linked to “foreign enemies.” Disregarding local anger, the regime has chosen to couch protests in its wider struggles with the West. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said last week: “Washington is always trying to weaken Iran’s stability and security.” And amid a bitter cyberwar with Israel, the regime has been keen to represent its internet blackout as an act of self-defense from efforts at foreign interference.
Much like 1979, it is the cross-class, ethnic and gender support that makes this movement so significant.
At the UN General Assembly last month, President Ebrahim Raisi held up a photo of assassinated Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, while in the latter’s hometown of Kerman the same picture was being burned. Within this context, how well the regime will be able to internationalize the reasons for its internal instability will be limited. The current situation also affects the stalled nuclear deal talks, as it is unclear whether a regime under pressure will double down and be less minded to reach an agreement and if a US president with midterm elections in November can be seen to be parlaying with an increasingly controversial partner.
Today’s protests are only the latest iteration of dissent in a country that notably saw the 2009 Green Movement emerge in the wake of disputed elections, as well as protests in November 2019 over fuel price rises and rallies this year over the cost of living. The Iranian economy remains mired in a crisis largely caused by international sanctions over its nuclear program. Much like 1979, it is the cross-class, ethnic and gender support that makes this movement so significant. Iran’s teachers’ union has called for a strike and students have followed suit.
It would seem that the other sections of the revolution have reared their head in light of the challenges caused by the regime’s focus on international issues. The fatigue with Iran’s revolutionary overstretch and the economic difficulties it has caused has overlapped with developments in the region that threaten to curtail Iran’s involvement. In Syria, the Assad regime has been less compliant as it seeks to consolidate power. Iraq has strengthened relations with its Arab neighbors as it seeks to reenter the Arab fold and limit the influence of Iran. To a regime struggling at home, foreign adventurism is only likely to make matters worse, as the backbone of the protesters’ angst is not laws governing social matters but rather their economic circumstances.
The republican sentiment of Iran’s revolution against the shah united Iranians from different walks of life in a call for an end to tyranny. However, in its haste to consolidate power and export this revolution, the regime has overlooked the political and economic aspirations of the different sections of Iranian society that took part in it, focusing instead on a set of regional hegemonic ambitions. It is these ambitions that have led to the economic isolation Iran experiences today, which in turn has led to a situation whereby an emotive incident has caused mass social unrest.
• Zaid M. Belbagi is a political commentator and an adviser to private clients between London and the GCC.