Kiwi Iranians gather outside the Labour Party Conference in Manukau calling on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Government to take stronger action against Iran. Video / NZ Herald
When videos posted on Friday appeared to show the ancestral home of the late founder of the Iranian Islamic Republic on fire, state media derided the news as “a lie”. But footage posted by the activist network 1500tasvir told a different story.
The incident occurred on Thursday evening in Khomein, the birth town of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the group said, as strikes and protests over the death of Mahsa Amini shook Iran for a ninth week.
They shared footage showing flames amid the distinctive arches that matched file photographs of the residence. The truth was out.
In a country where free media is banned, 1500tasvir has quickly emerged as a hub for independent information, developing a reputation for a comprehensive and dependable network relied upon both by protesters in the street and Western media.
On an ordinary day the group typically shares hundreds of videos on Instagram and Twitter. Its accounts have gone from 150,000 and 50,000 followers respectively in September, to over 1.5 million and 350,000 currently. No other group has developed such a wide network of coverage of the protest movement.
The Telegraph interviewed two members of 1500tasvir, who agreed to speak anonymously over a secure messaging app to provide an inside account of how a small group of young volunteers is challenging the combined security apparatus of the Islamic republic.
“The only purpose we have is to harm the Islamic republic, in the end destroy it, as all people in Iran want and in the end that’s why people trust us,” one of the activists said.
The group, whose name means 1500 windows, was formed after Iran’s Bloody November protests in 2019 with the goal of creating an accurate tally of the number of protesters killed by security forces.
Those protests had erupted nationwide following a rapid hike in fuel prices, and authorities responded ruthlessly with a week-long crackdown and near-total internet blackout. While this restricted coverage of the brutal response, 1500tasvir activists were able to document the death of at least 1500 protesters, hence the name.
The group’s secret volunteer network – made up mostly of young people inside Iran, though some are also based abroad – was well established when protests erupted again in September after Amini’s death.
Protests on the streets of Iran in September. Photo / AP
Its activists were well placed to challenge the state media’s narrative of a nation beset by rioters, terrorists and agents in the pay of Western powers plotting to foment a civil war.
This year’s demonstrations have not, as yet, been as deadly as 2019, nor as widespread as the 2009 Green Movement, which mobilised up to three million people at a time and lasted for six months.
But the protests over the death of Amini show no sign of abating, and what distinguishes them is the brazenness and conviction of protesters calling for the overthrow of the regime, activists say.
“People are angrier this time,” one of the members told The Telegraph. “This time people understood from these experiences that they should defend themselves, they shouldn’t just stand there and be killed.”
They are also younger. “In 2009 it was over 25-year-olds,” the activist said. “This time it’s about teenagers, 14, 15 years old. It’s their fight this time.”
Those claims are partially borne out by the death toll so far. Of the 362 deaths documented by the group Human Rights Activists in Iran, 56 were of minors, including an eight-year-old killed in Zahedan last month and a nine-year-old killed in the western city of Izeh on Wednesday.
It is documenting deaths like these that motivates 1500tasvir, who say they have a life or death stake in the protests as ordinary Iranians, rather than as impartial observers or journalists.
“One of the reasons people trust us is because we do not consider ourselves journalists, we’re a part of the people and we document people in their routine life,” the activist said.
The group says it is independent, not affiliated with any political party, nor funded by any other states. Through behind-the-scenes work, the group has gained enough credibility with Twitter and Instagram to obtain blue tick verification.
Its main goal is to support ordinary Iranians protesting in the street and amplify their voices, another member of the group said.
“The most important thing for us is for people in the street here, that’s our number one priority, everything is arranged and coordinated according to that,” the individual said. “The people in the street needed their voices to be heard internationally.”
While the struggle is taking place primarily on the streets of Iran, the movement is being inspired, amplified and assisted by digital technology.
An arms race is underway between protesters reliant on access to the internet to share information and get their message out and authorities intent on thwarting them, throttling their access and spying on them online.
Iranian dissidents – and online shoppers – all use proxy servers and virtual private networks to mask their location and encrypt their traffic, enabling users to bypass blocks imposed on sites like Twitter and to communicate safely without interception protesters.
Some apps have been developed more specifically to thwart authorities, like Gershad, a crowdsourced app that lets users share and track the real-time locations of morality police patrols.
Authorities are so concerned by what citizens are doing online that security forces conduct random searches of people’s devices.
“Even if you are not protesting they walk up to you and make you open your phone. If you don’t put the passcode, they will arrest you and take you to the police station,” the first activist said.
Heavy-handed approaches like this are only hardening the resolve of protesters, they said.
“We are not savages or in the street because of US sanctions, we want freedom, we want a better life,” they continued.
“Before the Islamic republic could just hide it but this time the world is seeing the truth of the protesters, how brave they are and how cruel the government can be.”
Like many in Iran who now believe the government cannot be reformed, the first activist predicted its downfall was inevitable. “The people will be the winners of this war, it’s just a matter of time.”
