A team of United Nations investigators called on Iran on Thursday to immediately withdraw a draft law that could lead to decades in prison for simply communicating with foreign people or entities, including the media.
The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said it was “appalled” by the draft law currently before the Iranian parliament, warning that it represents “a dangerous escalation in the suppression of basic freedoms and the isolation of Iranians from the international community,” according to what Agence France-Presse reported.
The text has not yet been finalized, but the draft stipulates the prohibition of “any activity or communication by natural or legal persons, whether Iranian or foreign, that would undermine independence, national unity, Islamic standards, or national sovereignty.”
The draft says that the proposed legislation aims to protect “Iran’s independence, sovereignty, national unity and cultural identity.”
UN investigators warned, in a statement, that this meant that any alleged contact “with specific foreign countries, media outlets, academic institutions, human rights defenders or civil society groups could be prosecuted as serious security crimes.”
As discussions continued in the Iranian parliament, it was not clear how long the possible sanctions would be, but investigators said that journalists, academics, activists and others could face prison sentences of up to 30 years for communicating with foreign parties.
The fact-finding mission, which does not speak on behalf of the United Nations, noted that the “broad and loosely worded draft law” would require the Iranians to disclose and record all “activities with foreign agents or foreign nationals.”
Investigators warned that they could then face criminal prosecution if they did not obtain prior approval for activities such as publishing books and articles, issuing newspapers, exchanging data, and engaging in academic collaboration.
They added that economic, commercial and financial activities, including transferring money or providing goods and services, will also be subject to approval.
The head of the mission, Sarah Hussein, said in the statement: “We are shocked by the steps taken by the Iranian government to subject ordinary Iranians to comprehensive criminalization for any contact with the outside world.”
Abbas Ghalro, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Iranian Parliament, told the government-run Mehr Agency on Thursday that the draft law aims to “protect Iranian citizens from any foreign influence.”
He added: “There is no reason to be concerned about this draft law, and in my opinion, the criticism directed at it stems from a lack of sufficient understanding of its provisions.”
The three-member fact-finding mission was established by a resolution of the United Nations Human Rights Council in November 2022, following the Iranian crackdown on a wave of protests that erupted following the death of an Iranian Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini in detention.
The Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation against former Turkish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office said, in a statement on Thursday, that the prosecution launched an immediate, automatic investigation under “the first paragraph of Article 299” of the Turkish Penal Code, against Ahmet Davutoğlu. Because of statements that were considered offensive to the President of the Republic, and were circulated on social media sites. On Wednesday, an old video clip was circulated that was recorded during a meeting between Davutoglu and citizens in a village during his presidency of the opposition “Future” Party, which announced its dissolution on July 30, and its departure from political work. The penalty for “insulting the president,” according to Turkish law, may reach 4 years in prison.
Joint march
During his speech in the video clip, Davutoglu said, criticizing President Erdogan, without mentioning him by name: “Unlike the ministers who came after me, I did not earn a single penny illegally. I told them not to extend your hands, and not to make illegal gains, but they did. They collected billions upon billions, plundered ill-gotten gains, and enriched their entourage and those around them. Erdogan appointed his son-in-law Berat Albayrak, former Minister of Energy, Natural Resources, Treasury and Finance, as minister, enriched his relatives, and handed Türkiye over to 5 contractors.
Davutoglu, an academic specializing in political science who was nicknamed “Professor” by the ruling Justice and Development Party, worked as an advisor to former President Abdullah Gul, then to Erdogan during his prime ministerial period, and then as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He assumed the presidency of the party to succeed Erdogan after his election as president in 2014, as the parliamentary system did not allow the president to belong to any party, but in 2016 he announced his resignation from the presidency of the party due to disagreements with Erdogan in his approach to managing the party and the country.
In 2019, Davutoglu resigned from the Justice and Development Party after his disagreements with Erdogan deepened and founded the Future Party, which surprisingly announced on July 30 his decision to dissolve it and withdraw from party politics, which he attributed to “the corruption of the political climate in Türkiye.” He said, in a statement, that the decision was taken after evaluations and consultations with the competent bodies in the party. Because of the unwillingness to get involved in the “corrupt political climate,” he pointed out that “the decision is not a surrender or abandonment of politics, but it came to put a moral distance from politics, and an invitation to everyone to reconsider it.”
Davutoglu criticized the presidential system under which Turkey is currently governed, pointing out “the weakness of the principle of separation of powers and the failure of oversight and balance mechanisms,” and explaining that “corruption, lack of merit, polarization, and loss of confidence in the judicial system are among the country’s most prominent problems.” Davutoglu also criticized “the widening of social and economic disparities in the country, and the significant decline in the status of politicians.” He stressed that Turkey needs “a comprehensive revolution on the moral, intellectual, institutional and political levels,” warning of “the possibility of the wave of anger resulting from tyranny, corruption, income inequality, embargoes, and violations of the law turning into a vindictive counter-government.” Because polarization spreads from politics to society, and this situation destroys the feeling of common belonging. He concluded: “We will continue to think, warn, and work for Türkiye, and we will continue our struggle for our nation until the Türkiye of tomorrow is achieved.”
Stay away from politics
The “Future” party was dissolved in a general conference held on August 22, and it was said within the scenes of politics in Ankara that Davutoglu’s decision came after the failure of merger negotiations with the right-wing “Welfare Again” and “Happiness” parties.
Previous speculation also escalated, after Davutoglu and the heads of the “Welfare Again” party, Fatih Erbakan, and the “Democracy and Progress” party, Ali Babacan, shook hands with Erdogan in Parliament during the celebration of “National Sovereignty and Children’s Day” on April 23, regarding the possibilities of him and Babacan returning to the “Justice and Development” Party. Davutoglu’s statement after the meeting with Erdogan that “my soul has never left the (Justice and Development) Party” sparked these speculations.
CBS News reported that the Pentagon directed military personnel to stop using the name “Operation Epic Fury” to refer to ongoing US operations against Iran, even though the Defense Department says the operation officially ended on May 5, three months before the directive was issued.
The network relied on an Air Force email dated August 7, which included instructions to use the broader phrase “foreign operations in the US Central Command area of responsibility” instead of the name of the operation.
CBS quoted military officials as saying that the directive was not limited to the Air Force, but was circulated to branches of the Ministry of Defense, and that it was issued by the Central Public Affairs Office of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The Pentagon told the network that the “epic fury” concluded on May 5, and that subsequent operations included freedom of navigation missions and strikes aimed at reducing the Revolutionary Guard’s threats to commercial ships, Gulf states, and American forces.
On the same day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that “the operation has ended,” and that Washington had moved to “Project Freedom,” which Hegseth presented as a defensive naval mission to protect navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
But the end of the so-called operation did not end the war; US and Iranian forces continued to exchange strikes intermittently, and President Donald Trump notified Congress in July of the resumption of “military action” against Iran after the collapse of the ceasefire.
CBS said that setting May 5 as the official date for the end of the operation also raised questions about the method of classifying the dead and wounded American forces.
In July, the Pentagon listed four soldiers killed in Jordan and Iraq as casualties of “Epic Fury,” even though the operation had ended two months earlier. They were later transferred to a new category called “External Operations,” which reduced the number of deaths recorded in the operation from 18 to 14.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell at the time attributed the change to a “temporary data disruption.”
According to CBS, the Ministry of Defense system still classifies five wounded in June and a soldier killed in July as “epic rage,” without explaining the reason for this or including the end date of the operation in the records of losses.
