On Thursday, June 2, 2022, and the 33rd anniversary of Iranian regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini’s death, Resistance Units, the domestic network of the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), took over more than 5,000 Closed Circuit Cameras (CCTVs) in Tehran and its suburbs.
#FreeIran2022#Tehran, #Iran's capital—#MEK Resistance Units take over 5000 CCTV cameras belonging to the municipality around Khomeini’s Mausoleum and government offices used for surveillance by offices of Khamenei and Raisi, #MOIS, and #IRGC.pic.twitter.com/fP9YLGYEKm
— Iran News Update (@IranNewsUpdate1) June 2, 2022
“The Resistance Units conducted an extensive operation, in which they controlled and took down 5,138 Closed Circuit Cameras (CCTVs) installed at Khomeini’s Tomb, government centers, and different parts of the Iranian capital,” the MEK official website declared. “This network of security cameras is controlled at a headquarters in Tehran’s Municipality.”
According to the Ghiam ta Sarnegouni, who took the operation’s responsibility, the offices of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and the State Security Force Command (SSFC) surveillance these cameras.
Recently, the regime has installed thousands of CCTVs to identify and track defiant youths and protesters. During the gas protests in November 2019, security forces chased and detained thousands of demonstrators via these cameras. The fate of many detainees is still unclear.
“This vast network is one of the principal instruments of surveillance and suppression used by the clerical regime,” the MEK wrote. Therefore, protesters have grasped that they should neutralize these repressive instruments during any anti-regime activity.
#IranProtests#Tehran, #Iran's capital—footage shows citizens destroying security cameras in Valiasr St. on November 16, 2019, following the nationwide gas protests.
For years, the regime used CCTVs to identify and detain protesters and quell any dissent.pic.twitter.com/v9cxYpdqog https://t.co/TTYo3E3NDp
— Iran News Update (@IranNewsUpdate1) June 2, 2022
According to the MEK, these surveillance cameras are in many areas across the capital, particularly sensitive locations. For instance, the cameras around government offices at Pasteur St and surrounding areas were taken over by dissidents. Notably, the offices of Khamenei, Raisi, the Judiciary, the Guardian Council, and the Parliament [Majlis] are on this street.
Furthermore, the cameras of Khomeini’s mausoleum, Tehran’s Behesht Zahra Cemetery, municipality offices, and Tehran’s streets and expressways were compromised. “Complete specifications of 269 CCTVs in Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery, 270 CCTVs in downtown Tehran, 1,377 CCTVs on Tehran’s expressways, 3,222 Milestone CCTVs in Tehran that were taken down, and complete details of 2,185 servers controlling these cameras, that were also taken over, along with 168 servers for the cameras and their security management, are available” the MEK reported.
MEK Resistance Units Take Over Tehran Municipality’s Websites
However, the Resistance Units’ operation was not limited to the surveillance cameras. According to Ghiam ta Sarnegouni’s announcement, over 150 websites and platforms affiliated with Tehran Municipality were taken over.
Citizens witnessed the pictures of Massoud Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance leader, and Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), as well as the crossed-out image of Khamenei. “Damn Khomeini; death to Khamenei” was posted as well.
In this major cyber op by the Resistance Units, at 12:30 pm local time today, +150 websites/platforms of Tehran’s Municipality were taken over & pictures of Iran's opposition leaders Massoud/Maryam Rajavi & slogans of “Hail to Rajavi, Damn Khomeini, Death to Khamenei” were posted pic.twitter.com/BXu1Fh2FXf
— M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) June 2, 2022
Notably, at least 64 websites belonging to the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance were already defaced to show photos of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi on March 14, at 9:30 am Tehran time. Also, 77 servers and 280 devices of the ministry were out of service. The web pages also contained a crossed-out picture of Khamenei and written slogans “Death to Khamenei. Viva Rajavi.”
Earlier on January 27, the Resistance Units operated a significant disruption at more than a dozen state-run TV and radio stations IRIB, in which footage of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi was aired along with audio slogans of “Death to Khamenei!” and “Hail to Rajavi!” on 14 TV and 13 radio stations.
“We were caught off guard,” said an IRIB expert. It took several weeks till the IRIB recovered from the attack and its programs returned to their usual procedure.
“And today, we are still proud when we said, ‘Death to fundamentalism,’ we resisted and still repeat, ‘Overthrow, overthrow, overthrow,’” the voice of Massoud Rajavi heard, insisting the regime change is the only path toward a free, secular, non-nuclear republic of Iran.
“More than 600 TV and radio servers were offline and completely destroyed,” according to sources providing reports from inside state-run TV and radio networks.
Over A Half Million Tehran Citizens Receive Anti-Regime SMS
The Resistance Units also expanded their operation, using the municipality’s servers to send anti-regime slogans. “As part of the operation, the servers of the Tehran municipality were used to send SMS to more than 585,000 phones with the message, ‘Damned be Khomeini; death to Khamenei and Raisi; hail to Rajavi,’” the MEK website wrote.