Rouhani's advisor reacts to the discovery of "infiltrators" in the field of population control

Rouhani's advisor attacked the news agency affiliated with the IRGC in response to a Fars report that reported the arrest and summoning of "influencers" in the field of population control. According to the Fars report, "influencers" have obstructed the "regime's policies" in the field of population.

In response to a Fars News Agency report on the "arrest and summons of infiltrators in the field of population control," Hesameddin Ashena, an advisor to the Iranian president, attacked the news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, and sarcastically called on "Fars" to limit itself to "the same field of the environment."

The Iranian presidential advisor wrote on Twitter: "We ask Fars, which is like the FATA police that watches over everything, to let others take the honor of securing demography. For you, the environmental sector is enough for now."

Hesameddin Ashena’s irony is that he is referring to security charges, including “spying for foreigners,” against a number of environmental activists in Iran. Last February (2017), seven environmental activists were arrested in Iran, and the number of those arrested in this area has since increased. Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, Taher Ghadirian, Abdolreza Koohpayeh, and Morad Tahbaz are the eight environmental activists currently in prison. These individuals were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence agency.

These activists were accused of using environmental projects as a cover to collect “classified strategic information.” The charges against some of these individuals were later changed from “espionage” to “corruption on earth.” Kavous Seyyed-Emami was among those detained, who died in prison under suspicious circumstances on February 10. The Rouhani government has denied the “espionage” charges against environmental activists.

Now, a report from Fars News Agency on Tuesday, November 27, indicates the possible start of a new security project. The news agency wrote: “It has been heard that one of the country’s security agencies, in cooperation with the judicial system, has arrested and summoned a number of influential elements in the field of population control.”

“Influence in the governing apparatus”

According to this news agency affiliated with the IRGC, "These individuals, through their networked actions, have attempted to infiltrate various governmental agencies under the guise of scientific activities and create obstacles to the proper implementation of the regime's general policies in the field of population."

The Fars News Agency identified the arrested individual as “M.B.” and wrote that he “had been working as a researcher for a long time and also has dual citizenship.” According to the news agency, “some individuals have also been summoned several times.”

According to Fars, "These individuals, by influencing certain institutions such as the Ministry of Science, the Ministry of Health, the Parliamentary Research Center, the Planning and Budget Organization, the Statistics Center, the Presidential Strategic Studies Center, etc., were attempting to prevent the proper implementation of the system's general policies."

In 2013, contrary to previous policies to control population in Iran, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, called for the implementation of programs to increase the population to 150 million people and issued his decree under the title of “General Population Policies” to the three branches of government. Following the announcement of the population growth policy by the Supreme Leader, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, issued a four-article directive to the Ministries of Interior, Health, and Labor to explain the general population growth policy. Facilitating population growth was among the items in this directive.

The Fars News Agency's report on the "obstruction" of arrested or summoned individuals against the "proper implementation of the regime's general policies" in the area of ​​population control is a reference to this same policy announced by Khamenei.

In addition to the advisor to the Iranian president, reformist political activist Feyzollah Arabsorkhi also reacted to the Fars report, writing on Twitter: "After the arrest of environmental activists, now we are looking forward to the arrest of population control activists."

“Coordinated activity to implement Kissinger’s recommendation”

A day before Fars reported on the arrest and summons of “population control influencers,” Kayhan newspaper wrote in a report titled “Kissinger’s version of the aging tsunami of the Iranian people on the table of the parliament”: “For about two years, a coordinated team consisting of several members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (member of the women’s faction of the parliament), several social activists in the Imam Ali (AS) Society, along with a person who was trained in social policy-making in England, has been working around the “legal prohibition of early marriage” with the support of international organizations such as UNICEF and spending huge amounts of money to hold conferences, meetings, make movies, and mass media productions.”

According to the state-run newspaper, 44 years ago, Henry Kissinger, then US Secretary of State, prepared a document that included “the challenge of the increasing population of the Muslim world for Israel’s security.” Kayhan wrote that, according to Kissinger, the increasing population of America’s rival countries, especially Muslims, is a threat to the United States that must be prevented. The newspaper also assessed the plan to “raise the marriage age” in Iran as a plan in line with Kissinger’s recommendations, writing: “If the outcome of implementing such recommended plans is the same as what has now manifested itself in the form of the ‘tsunami of Iranian aging,’ future generations will never forgive those who indulge in the colorful policies of international institutions.”

Threats against child marriage opponents

At the same time as the news of the “arrest and summons of population control infiltrators” was published by Fars News Agency, there were also reports of threats from representatives supporting the increase in the “minimum marriage age.” Fatemeh Hosseini, one of these representatives, wrote on Twitter: “Again, dozens of text messages to members of parliament; this time to counter a plan that is being pursued in parliament to prevent child marriage! These days, the engine of organized text messages containing lies, slander, and threats has been turned on again.”

At the same time as some members of parliament and civil society activists are trying to prevent child marriage in Iran, some extremist groups are strongly attacking the plan to "raise the marriage age," considering it to be against "Islamic principles."

Source: DW