Over 327,000 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 547 cities across Iran, according to reports tallied daily by the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) as of Thursday July 11.

******

Saturday July 10, 2021 marked the first day of the Iranian Resistance’s three-day Free Iran World Summit, a virtual event that brought together people from more than 50,000 locations in 105 countries around the world. The message of the event, whose audience included 1,029 politicians, 11 former Prime Ministers including Stephen Harper from Canada and 70 former ministers, was that Iran is ruled by criminals that are in their weakest state, and the people of Iran are ready for change. In her keynote address to the summit, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, described Iran’s current situation as “distinguished by three major developments.”  “First, the regime is politically and socially in a state of emergency, grappling with rampant crises;  “Second, Iranian society has entered a phase of upheavals and uprisings since December 2017.  “And third, a nationwide network has emerged, which is comprised of courageous, selfless rebels who keep alight the flames of the Resistance Units’ fight against symbols of religious fascism,” Mrs. Rajavi said. Madam Rajavi stressed that the past 40 years have proven numerous times that “the threat for government policies has always been complacency with this regime; the danger of giving in to the regime's blackmail and sacrificing the Iranian people’s Resistance and human rights for commercial and political interests.” Rajavi also reiterated that the regime “will not change unless it is overthrown through an uprising.”  “Our will and that of our people can be summed up in these three words: freedom, democracy, and equality,” she said. “As far as the international community is concerned, we ask it to recognize the struggle of the Iranian people to overthrow this regime and recognize these three concepts.”Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who addressed the conference for the first time, said that the most important conflict in Iran is “the divide between the people and the organized opposition seeking freedom and democracy on the one side, and the entirety of the regime on the other.” Pompeo stressed that the idea of “moderates” within the regime is misplaced. He also said that the U.S. can play a leading role in weakening the regime, as was proven by the “maximum pressure” policy during his tenure. “The regime is at its weakest point in decades,” Pompeo said. “Engagement with the regime will make lengthen the time that the regime has to behave as it has for these past decades denying basic human dignity and opportunity to the Iranian people,” Pompeo warned. “We must continue to support the Iranian people as they fight for a freer and more democratic Iran in any way that we can.” https://tinyurl.com/498y2bva 

******

Inmates in the women’s ward of Urmia Prison revolted on Thursday, July 8, 2021, to protest the transfer of a woman to a high-security ward. Arezoo Rouhinejad had been transferred six days earlier to a high-security ward after the women in this ward celebrated withdrawal of the death sentence of another one of their fellow inmates. According to sources inside the Central Prison of Urmia, the protesting women broke the doors and shattered the windows. Following the protest, security forces raided the women’s ward of Urmia Prison and beat several women prisoners protesting the transfer of Arezoo Rouhinejad. After the angry protests of prisoners in the women’s ward of Urmia Prison, Arezoo Rouhinejad was returned to the ward after six days. In this way, the protesting prisoners achieved their demand. https://tinyurl.com/26rw5jze

******

The IRGC Intelligence and Intelligence Ministry forces arrested Nahid Kamangar in Kamyaran, Arezoo Rahimkhani, a university professor in Andimeshk, and 16-year-old Gina Hassani Moghaddam in Sanandaj. https://tinyurl.com/975zbxfx

******

Protests over economic conditions and power outages continue in different cities across Iran during last week. On Thursday, oil, gas, and petrochemical workers held the twentieth day of their strike. Workers from five new companies joined the strike on Thursday, including the Oil Design & Construction Company (ODCC) in Abadan, Pisa in Iranshahr, Behdad Madan Pasargad in Isfahan, and Darya Sahel in Qeshm. On Wednesday, a group of dismissed workers of the Abadan petrochemical company held a rally in front of the city’s governorate, protesting the government’s refusal to enforce labor law that would ensure their job security.

******

Power outages in Tehran and other Iranian cities have caused mass protests in the past few days. Night demonstrations on Sunday and Monday night slammed the Iranian regime for its destructive policies. In several areas, the demonstrators called for the ouster of the regime and its supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The night rallies are taking place while the regime’s security forces are on full alert to prevent potential protests following the sham presidential election. The Iranian society is on the verge of explosion and the regime is rallying all its might to prevent nationwide uprisings similar to 2018 and 2019. Mark Dubowitz the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in a tweet on July 8 wrote: “In Tehran, in the midst of the outages, people chanted “Death to Khamenei”, “Death to the dictator”, and “Death to the Islamic Republic”…Most Iranians sense the misery will continue as long as the regime does.”

******

Saba Kord Afshari and her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi Asl, have declared that they refrain from going to the visitation hall as an act of protest against being deprived of having inter-prison calls and visits. Amin Vaziri, the assistant prosecutor who oversees the cases of political prisoners, who has also interrogated Saba Kord Afshari, has ordered the ban. The ban is in breach of the Iranian regime’s prison laws which foresee visits between family members, even if they are detained in separate prisons. Saba Kord Afshari is detained in Ward 6 of Qarchak Prison among dangerous criminals, in violation of the principle of separation of crimes. Raheleh Ahmadi Saba's mother was arrested to put pressure on her daughter. She is sentenced to 31 months in prison and has been imprisoned since February 15, 2020. She suffers from thyroid malfunctions which affect her immune system, making her more vulnerable to COVID-19. https://tinyurl.com/tdaxaa4r