{"id":8513,"date":"2026-01-16T00:54:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=8513"},"modified":"2026-01-17T04:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T10:42:11","slug":"8513","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2026\/01\/16\/8513\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIran protests abate after deadly crackdown, Trump says Tehran calls off mass hangings,\u201d<\/a> Reuters, 1-16-25.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho was behind Iran\u2019s deadly crackdown?,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 1-16-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere remains no evidence that any force beyond the Iranian police and Revolutionary Guards [and the Quds Force] were behind the violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article, and others, shows why Iran International remains a leading source of news about the Regime.\u00a0 \u201cWhat Tehran means when it says protesters won\u2019t be executed,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 1-16-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTehran has rarely\u2014perhaps never\u2014executed individuals under the formal charge of participating in an illegal gathering. Under Iran\u2019s Islamic Penal Code, that offense does not carry the death penalty and is typically punishable by imprisonment. In that narrow, technical sense, officials can plausibly claim that the state does not execute people for protesting. The distinction, however, lies in how protesters are subsequently defined. Across successive protest movements, Iranian authorities have routinely reframed demonstrations by dividing participants into shifting categories: first \u201cpeaceful protesters\u201d and \u201crioters,\u201d and more recently \u201cvandals,\u201d \u201csaboteurs\u201d and \u201cterrorists.\u201d\u00a0 \u2026 Once a detainee is removed from the category of protester, prosecutors gain access to a separate set of charges\u2014including moharebeh (warring against God), efsad-fel-arz (corruption on earth), terrorism, armed action or collaboration with hostile states\u2014all of which can carry the death penalty. \u2026 In this way, the state\u2019s claim that it does not execute protesters is technically consistent with its practice. Executions occur only after protest-related activity has been reclassified as a more serious offense. \u2026 The result is a system in which the boundary between lawful protest and criminal conduct is not defined in advance, but determined after the fact.\u201d\u00a0 This reminds us that definitions matter, and that when terrorist claim they don\u2019t claim innocents such as women and children doesn\u2019t matter because the terrorist can reclassify those persons as offenders or members of the wrong country and declare they are legitimate targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran in limbo: What\u2019s next for country under internet blackout?,\u201d<\/a> Al Jazeera, 1-16-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran Protests Quelled Since Deadly Crackdown, Residents Say,\u201d<\/a> NYT, 1-16-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere is massive disappointment and disillusionment,\u201d said another resident, who worked in central Tehran and also spoke on the condition of anonymity. \u2026 There have been no large-scale protests documented in Iran since Sunday, according to Arina Moradi and Mina Khani, members of the Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, which has been monitoring the demonstrations since they began. \u2026 An Israeli defense assessment found that the scale of protests had noticeably declined since Sunday, following the Iranian forces\u2019 escalating use of live ammunition and the internet blackout\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIran protests abate after deadly crackdown, Trump says Tehran calls off mass hangings,\u201d Reuters, 1-16-25. \u201cWho was behind Iran\u2019s deadly crackdown?,\u201d Iran International, 1-16-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere remains no evidence that any force beyond the Iranian police and Revolutionary Guards [and the Quds Force] were behind the violence.\u201d This article, and others, shows why Iran International remains a … <\/p>\n

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