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Khoshroo accused Washington of inciting Iranians to ‘engage in disruptive acts’ [Mike Segar/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Iran has accused the US of “inciting” anti-government protests that have gripped the country, and said the Trump administration had “flouted” international law and the principles of the UN charter by supporting the unrest in a series of “absurd tweets”.

In a letter sent to Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, on Wednesday, Gholamali Khoshroo, the Iranian ambassador to the UN, said the US had “crossed every limit” by “inciting Iranians to engage in disruptive acts”.

“[The US] has stepped up its acts of intervention in a grotesque way in Iran’s internal affairs under the pretext of providing support for sporadic protests, which in several instances were hijacked by infiltrators,” Press TV quoted Khoshroo as saying.

He criticised US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence directly for their “numerous absurd tweets”, that called on Iranians to “change their government”.

“The US Department of State went so far as admitting that the US government wants to encourage protesters in Iran to change their government, admitting that the US is engaged in interfering with the internal affairs of Iran through Facebook and Twitter,” Khoshroo said.

The Trump administration is yet to respond to the letter.

At least 22 people have died and more than 450 arrested since anti-government demonstrations erupted across Iran on December 28.

The protests, which have focused on economic and political grievances, have been the largest display of public dissent since pro-reform rallies swept the country in 2009.

Trump, who has banned Iranians from travelling to the US, praised the demonstrators for “finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime” in a tweet earlier this week, and warned that “the world is watching”.

The Trump administration is yet to respond to the letter.

At least 22 people have died and more than 450 arrested since anti-government demonstrations erupted across Iran on December 28.

The protests, which have focused on economic and political grievances, have been the largest display of public dissent since pro-reform rallies swept the country in 2009.

Trump, who has banned Iranians from travelling to the US, praised the demonstrators for “finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime” in a tweet earlier this week, and warned that “the world is watching”.

Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, said on Tuesday that the US would seek an emergency session of the Security Council and the Human Rights Council to discuss the situation in Iran.

“The people of Iran are crying out for freedom,” she said. “All freedom-loving people must stand with their cause.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has blamed external “enemies” for heightening unrest in the country.

Money, weapons, politics and intelligence services have been used by these “enemies” to undermine stability, he said on Tuesday.

Pro-government rallies
Tens of thousands of Iranians took part in nationwide pro-government demonstrations on Wednesday.

The rallies took place in at least 10 cities, including the Iranian capital of Tehran.

TV pictures showed people carrying banners in support of the government and shouting slogans against the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The footage, carried by state media, was in broad contrast to the coverage of the past week’s demonstrations against Iran’s leadership.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Tehran, said, a “few small and short-lived anti-government rallies have taken place overnight Wednesday in a few cities around the country.

“[But] what really is at play today are the pro-government, pro-establishment demonstrations and marches being held in major cities across Iran. This really is an effort by the government to bookend this whole episode.

“It illustrates to a domestic audience, but also to anyone watching from outside, that the government does enjoy support and that there are tens of thousands of people willing to rally on behalf of the government.”

Following the demonstrations, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), declared unrest in the country as over.

“Today, we can announce the end of the sedition,” Jafari said, quoted on the Guards’ website.

“A large number of the troublemakers at the centre of the sedition, who received training from counter-revolutionaries … have been arrested and there will be firm action against them,” he added.

The UN’s human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, has urged Iran to handle the situation “with great care” in order to prevent further violence and unrest.

“It is incumbent on the authorities that their actions do not provoke a downward spiral of violence, as occurred in 2009,” he said on Wednesday in a statement.

“The authorities must take all steps to ensure that this does not happen again.”

Singapore authorities have banned Radiance of Resistance, a U.S.-made documentary about the Palestinian-Israel conflict depicted through the eyes of two Palestinian girls, 16-year old Ahed Tamimi and another young female activist. The film was scheduled to be screened on Thursday at the Singapore Palestinian Film Festival being held at independent cinema The Projector, agencies have reported.

The island nation’s film certification body, Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) gave the film a Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR) classification, meaning it is not cleard for showing in any circumstances in Singapore. The IMDA said that the film had a “skewed narrative” and could “cause disharmony among races and religions in Singapore.”

NAR ratings are considered quite rare, and three were issued in November. “Radiance” was directed by Jesse Roberts and has played on the international festival circuit since 2016. The Festival spokesmen said that the NAR decision came too late to make an appeal or to find alternative programming. It cancelled the screening, and refunded.

Singapore’s censors objected to three titles in the government-backed showcase Singapore International Film Festival. They included Barbet Schroeder’s The Venerable W, Singaporean director Chew Tzr Chuan ‘s Shadows of Fiendish Ancestress and Occasionally Parajanov on Durian Cialis, and the Nameless Boy, by Indonesian director Diego Batara Mahameru. The three had been announced in the festival’s lineup, but had to be removed before screenings took place.

The film was screened at several festivals in 207 and won Best Documentary at the Respect Human Rights Film Festival in Belfast, but got into further limelight with the arrest of Ms Tamimi, featured in the film. Thanks to her arrest, she became a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli military occupation in the West Bank. She was charged with aggravated assault and is to be tried in an Israeli military court. The law prescribed jail for up to 10 years if the assailant is an adult, but the 16-year old Tamimi being a minor such a sentence is unlikely.

By and large, Singapore’s media and film monitoring is tight, and more so when they touch on race and religion. But blanket ban is not that common. Adela Foo, the organizer of the Singapore Palestinian Festival, called the ban “understandable” with obvious avoidance of sensitivities.

As for the Palestinian problem, the Singapore government position on the Middle East is in favour of a two-state solution. Singapore has a sizeable Muslim minority and is surrounded by Muslim-majority countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, and the prevailing attitude to the Palestinian cause is of overall sympathy. All the same Singapore maintains friendly diplomatic ad military ties with Israel. In the most recent voting on the Palestinian issue in the UN, Singapore voted against the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

(Agencies)