The administration of US President Donald Trump held secret discussions with Iran regarding the deportation of Iranians during the war, according to what judicial documents revealed.
Declassified court documents show that the Republican administration announced, in mid-October, that it still intends to deport Iranians through an undisclosed third country, although it is not clear when it intends to carry out the deportations.
The US-Iranian Legal Defense Fund said today that the Iranian detainees received communications during the past week from the Iranian Interests Section, an Iranian representative office that operates from within the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and handles consular affairs, and they were informed of the existence of an expected deportation flight to Iran via Pakistan. Officials at the US Department of Homeland Security also informed some detainees of the expected deportation flight date.
According to Yasmin Shubin, the organization's executive director, one of the detainees attempted to commit suicide immediately upon learning that he might be returned to Iran. This person was one of two who were later transferred across state lines to a detention center, where detainees are usually transferred shortly before deportation.
The legal group said that none of the detainees contacted received any written information from immigration authorities.
“Some of these same asylum seekers, along with others who may face the same fate of death, are being returned to Iran at a time when the United States continues to intensify its bombing of the country,” Shubin said. "This journey must be stopped."
Hundreds of thousands went out across France, on Thursday, to participate in demonstrations and protest movements organized by union bodies under the slogan “Enough is enough” to demand an increase in wages and a reduction in the cost of living, in conjunction with new student demonstrations, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
For weeks, France has been witnessing demonstrations by high school students to protest deteriorating educational conditions and the university guidance system. In parallel, widespread protests against the high cost of living and inequality began, reaching their peak on October 17 with the worst riots in France in years.
At a march in the city of Clermont-Ferrand (central country), Sylvie Larnouri (61 years old), a health sector official, told Agence France-Presse: “There is a general feeling of anger, enough is enough. We are not dying of hunger, but we are forced to help our children even though they have completed their education.”
In Marseille (south-east of the country), the second largest city in the country, Lea (31 years old), a social worker who carried a sign that read: “An angry mother, living is very expensive,” expressed her fatigue with the need to constantly ration her expenses.
“We can no longer afford food, it scares me,” she said. I have to buy poor quality products. “We want cheaper goods and cheaper fuel.”
About 600,000 people demonstrated on Thursday across France, including the capital, Paris, on a day of action called for by a union coalition to demand higher wages and improved purchasing power, according to a preliminary tally by the Ministry of the Interior at five o’clock in the evening (16:00 GMT).
At one o'clock in the afternoon, the Ministry of the Interior counted 270,000 demonstrators in 180 marches outside Paris, while the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) counted more than 250,000 demonstrators in 73 marches.
Public and private education unions called for the strike, as well as unions representing railway, public hospital and postal service workers.
According to the government, about 15.81 percent of teachers responded to strike calls.
According to authorities figures, 81 out of 3,700 high schools in the country were “besieged.”
On the other hand, the Secondary School Students Union reported that lessons were stopped in a thousand high schools, whether due to protests or an administrative decision.
According to authorities figures, 81 out of 3,700 high schools in the country were “besieged.”
On the other hand, the Secondary School Students Union reported that lessons were stopped in a thousand high schools, whether due to protests or an administrative decision.
70,000 police and security forces were mobilized after the authorities vowed a “very firm response” to any “acts of violence” or disruption of order.
“alarm bell”
Although the student protests were largely peaceful, some of them witnessed confrontations with the police in which tear bombs and water cannons were used to disperse the demonstrators.
An investigation was opened into attempted murder after firebombs were thrown at security forces in Paris on Saturday.
On the other hand, criticism was directed at the methods adopted by the police in dealing with the movements, and it was accused of using excessive violence, and internal investigations are already being conducted in this regard.
A number of teenage demonstrators were seriously injured, and thousands of them were arrested.
The authorities acknowledged the existence of security and intelligence failures that led to the confrontations and allowed for widespread looting and vandalism of public property on October 17.
On Wednesday, the local authorities in Paris refused to authorize a large demonstration to adopt a path extending from Place de la Bastille and Place de la Concorde, meaning that it passes through the center of the capital, but they allowed it to take a path far from it.
Several unions saw the ban on the tracks as a suppression of freedom of demonstration, and some of them filed last-minute appeals to re-accredit these tracks.
Fabrice Faure of the General Confederation of Labor noted that “popular sympathy for the movement of high school and university students is not diminishing, and people are questioning the restrictions imposed on freedoms, especially the ban on demonstrations.”
He believed that this matter “was a warning bell for people who do not usually express their opinions much.”
In recent weeks, other European countries have witnessed protests similar to those taking place in France, including youth demonstrations in Denmark, Germany, and Italy.
Behind a banner reading: “From Greece to France, we fight for free, formal education,” about 4,000 people demonstrated Thursday in the Greek capital, Athens, and Thessaloniki, the country’s second largest city, according to police and Agence France-Presse journalists.
