At the initiative of five non-governmental organizations, including the Movement against Racism and for Friendship among the Peoples (MRAP); the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational...
The Iranian Regime is overwhelmed by the foreign and domestic crises that it is currently facing, but by far the biggest of those threats is the ongoing nationwide anti-regime protest movement that is being organised by Iranian Resistance group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
INU - Thursday marked the 67th annual International Human Rights Day. Naturally, the event served to renew attention to a range of human rights issues related to Iran. The National Council of Resistance of Iran reported, for instance, that a multi-party conference of British Members of Parliament was held in the House of Commons to mark the occasion with a discussion of the most recent attack on the Iranian dissident community of Camp Liberty, as well as the international response to Iran’s various ongoing human rights abuses.
INU - Iran News Update previously reported that despite the ongoing crackdown on political and cultural expressions opposed by the Iranian government, many activists and ordinary citizens in the Islamic theocracy have continued to push back against the authorities’ directives. On Wednesday, reports emerged of two more examples of this counter-trend to the regime’s repressive efforts.
INU - Last week, the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, as well as the broader sectarian conflict in the region, became still more complicated with another player entering the conflict, ostensibly to fill an advisory and training role. Ya Libnan reports that the Turkish government has acknowledged the deployment of troops to the north of Iraq, where the fight against ISIL is being prosecuted largely by the Kurds, instead of by Shiite militias that are mostly directed by Tehran.
INU - PC World reported on Monday that new research by Symantec had revealed two active hacker groups that have been hard at work targeting activists and their associates. Both can be proven to have been operating since the middle of last year, but their work may in fact date back to 2011. According to Symantec, this has allowed them to accumulate a tremendous amount of information, which could be used to justify more hands-on repression within the country.
Over the past several months, there have been various warnings from Western intelligence communities and computer security firms regarding the expansion of Iran’s cyberterrorism and cyberespionage capabilities. Last month, Interpol reported that European security professionals had destroyed an Iranian hacking ring that was dedicated to a rash of phishing attacks focused on human rights activists, journalists, and Iranians with connections in the West. But now it is not clear to what extent that victory had an impact on the overall integrity of the Iranian hacking infrastructure.
INU - Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency issued its final report on the past military dimensions of the Iranian nuclear program. The tone of the report is reportedly inconsistent, insofar as it technically clears the Islamic Republic of its responsibility to cooperate with the IAEA probe, yet also notes that the Iranians made steady efforts to create roadblocks and limit the amount of information that they revealed.
INU - In recent weeks, international negotiations have been ongoing over the crisis in Syria, but have generally appeared to be stalled because of disagreements over whether Bashar al-Assad will be permitted to retain power under a multilateral agreement.
