Why do atrocities in Iran seem to receive so little attention?

[MyCoralDreamer]

I was listening to Ian Dale LBC yesterday on the way back from a work meeting and this was one of the topics that was covered. I think he and various people who phoned in, raised some really interesting points.

Did anyone else listen to it? For example there was a public execution 2 days ago where 3 young men were to be hanged. One of them, only 18 years old, is reported to have died of a heart attack just before his execution was carried out. The regime were expecting cheers from the crowd. But instead, the crowd protested in disgust and the regime then chased and shot around 200 of the protesters.

Had I not listened to the this, I would have had no idea that this had happened. I think it’s important that these events are given more media coverage. We hear plenty about other events going on around the world and about Trumps latest peace deal with Iran (that never seems to materialise). But the media doesn’t seem interested in what the regime is inflicting on its civilians.

Dale also questioned why there’s no Free Iran Protests, when there’s plenty of Free Palestine Protests. Theres ONE that happens outside the Iranian embassy, but that’s it. Why aren’t more people bothered about atrocities in Iran?

During 8-9 of January this year, the regime killed an estimated 50,000 of its civilians. Again, had I not listened to LBC last night then I wouldn’t have know about this.

Its still available to listen back to if anyone’s interested. The podcast heading relates to reforms on social care but this topic came up in the last 3rd of the show.

Independent foreign journalists have issues with reporting from some countries, so that might have something to do with it.

No Jews no news?

What?

Something that everyone agrees is bad doesn’t get as many clicks/views/comments, I would assume.

Post an article about Palestine and you’ve got controversy and clicks. Post one about Iran and everyone goes “oh yeah that is bad” and scrolls on by.

Sadly, I think you may have a point. The recent huge rise in antisemitism in the UK is very worrying and seems to be directly linked to protests against Israel's conduct in Gaza. I hate what's happening there but it's not by any means the only human rights horror story in the world today. The conflict in Darfur comes to mind.

Dear god those poor young men. Cannot bear to hear of it. What can we do? Nothing. That’s maybe why?

Absolutely this.

There was a lot of reporting when Iranians were protesting against the regime before the war with the US. There was international outrage about the death sentences imposed on some of the protesters, to the extent that the Iranian authorities claimed that one young man wouldn’t be executed after all.

Then came the war and there’s just been so much to report, I think the bog-standard atrocities are competing with too much other stuff for attention.

It was reported by the BBC. The problem is, because Iran is a repressive closed regime at the best of times, and it is currently at war, it's very hard for journalists to report from. It's also been closing down the internet intermittently so that cuts the ability for civilians to share what is happening. Plus the chaos caused by the war itself (blackouts from America bombing power plants and other infrastructure) makes it harder for people to reliably share information. Plus, because it pushes people into survival mode, they are too busy worrying about water/not getting bombed etc to also be telling the world about the evil regime.
Finally, the government and judicial system is quite closed within the country. It's likely not that easy for people in Iran to hear from those on death row. So there is secrecy layered on secrecy. And that makes reporting a compelling story harder.

The executions via crane were big news a while ago. There was a campaign to persuade crane manufacturers not to do business with Iran it was so bad. It was successful with all but one European manufacturer refusing to sell any more cranes there. The massive protests and deaths before the current was were also front page news for the BBc, Guardian etc. it's just that the war with America pushes it down the agenda a bit because suddenly there's so much news coming from that area.

It is utterly dreadful. But no one is supporting it. No one we have any influence over is sending them arms. No one is saying they have the right to do it. And they aren't a democracy. The poor people have no choice, so we can't even influence them. They don't care what we think. War has only made things worse.

There are things we can all do about Palestine. Democracies that receive arms from other democracies can be influenced. Public opinion matters.

And the constant pretense that this means people are antisemitic is repulsive.

Regarding Free Iran protests, the problem there is what should people actually be protesting for? The oppression is being done by Iran's government so it makes sense to protest the embassy, but more generally it's hard to know what the protests should demand. Iran has already been subject to severe on/off sanctions so it's not like people can demand the UK stops selling them weapons. We already had private companies like the crane businesses cutting ties. It's not like they are hosting a football tournament or investing in British businesses. The only thing "left" presumably is to free them with bombs and I don't think people are wrong to not want that. You don't free someone in an abusive relationship by setting fire to their house when the whole families inside. Same goes for oppressive regime IMO.

Could be. It just doesn’t beat thinking about. The 18 year old is only a few years older than my son. I can’t imagine what his poor family must be going through. So sad.

My thoughts exactly. No marches for the abducted schoolgirls, or the women and girls of Afghanistan, or those in southern Sudan etc.

What about the Christians being slaughtered in Ethiopia and especially Nigeria?

Trump has bombed Boko Haram too.

Honestly? Because it’s been happening consistently since before I was even born so nobody shocked or surprised and western interference in the Middle East only seems to lead to terrible outcomes like current Afghanistan. What do you think anyone can do about it?

Sometimes you have to let a nations people revolt and take back their nation. Iran is being harmed by Iran whereas Palestine is being harmed by Israel, a separate nation.

I agree with you that Palestine being harmed by Israel is wrong. But why is it ok for Iran to be harmed by Iran? Why aren’t we lobbying our leaders to do something about this as well? These people are going through a living hell. And apart from the one outside the embassy in London, nobody is protesting for them. Is it ok for Andy Burnham to turn a blind eye to it?

And let’s not forget, these people were taken over by an insurrection. The same could happen anywhere else. And if happened here, I would like to think that other countries wouldn’t turn a blind eye to it.

I agree with @Tilty it's because Jews can't be blamed and vilified for it so all pro-Palestine bunch don't care.

But what is the something that should be done in this case?

Because it’s not news that despotic Islamist regimes behave like despotic Islamist regimes. The Free Palestine lot wouldn’t be interested if Israel was unable to defend itself from its neighbours and they were being annihilated (as they surely would be). They are that hypocritical.
We can only hope that the brave people of Iran can one day overwhelm their theocracy and get some justice back in their country.

It is not OK what happens in Iran. And it is one of the many reasons that they are sanctioned to the hilt.

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/statement-human-rights/un-adopts-71st-resolution-condemning-human-rights-violations-in-iran/

Do what? There are things the government can do about Israel but what can they do about Iran? Stop helping them with spy planes? Sanction them? Stop selling them weapons? Condemn their actions? This is what people were protesting for for Gaza but they don't do these things for Iran so what else would you like to see?

Protests usually have an actionable goal, what actionable goal would you protest for with regards to Iran? Standing in the street crying won't really do anything.

Because what good would us lobbying our government do? It is not the responsibility of the UK to remove a state’s government… why are we the policemen of the world? Is it not the right of a country to declare its own leaders, run itself and come up with its own laws for itself?

Removing sovereignty may once have been Britains habit but it’s not our right any more than it would be for Iran to declare they were going to oust Labour from parliament.

Out government has expressed its disapproval of Iran by sanctions. That’s about all they can do

Have you got any idea what? Because ‘something’ is consistently rejected by experts in Iran. It’s impossible to influence, nightmarish to go to war with, interventionism has only made it exponentially worse, it’s already sanctioned. There are interesting and complicated things to do with stopping sanctions being circumvented, but that’s not very interesting to most people. The interventionism of western powers caused all this. And more interventionism will cause more harm.

And it has NOTHING to do with Jewish people. It is entirely possible for people to support Jewish people while despising Netanyahu and the IDF. Conflating does nothing but increase antisemitism. Yes, there are scummy antisemites in the movement. Yes, this should be dealt with by the people who aren’t. But democracies giving trade and arms to other democracies killing children is something we CAN do something about.

Very similar issues in Gaza and yet there’s plenty of stories making it into mainstream press here.