Death of a Child in Earthquake-Affected Areas of Kermanshah Province

The newspaper 'Qanoon' has reported that 'Sarina, a two-year-old girl from Kermanshah, was living in a tent with her mother and father, and the cold made her shiver with fever so that no one could do anything for her.' According to this newspaper, 'Sarina lived with her mother and father in a tent in the village of Naveh Farah,' and Behrouz Zahabi, Sarina's father, said: 'Before the earthquake, I, along with my daughter Sarina, my eight-year-old son Nima, and my wife, were renting a house in the city of Sarpol-e Zahab. After the earthquake, my house was completely destroyed, and we moved to the village of Naveh Farah and settled in a tent. The living conditions in the village were very difficult. We have been trying to get a trailer for a long time, but they do not give us one and always come up with excuses. In the cold of the tent, my two-year-old daughter Sarina caught a cold. We couldn't warm her up, and every day her condition worsened. There was nothing we could do. We took a pickup truck and took Sarina to the Sarpol-e Zahab hospital; there they told us we had to transfer her to Imam Reza Hospital in Kermanshah. The next day, we took Sarina to Kermanshah, but it was too late. After two hours, Sarina died in my arms.' The newspaper 'Qanoon' wrote that 'the death of two-year-old Sarina in the cold of Kermanshah came while yesterday Shahab Naderi, the representative of Uramanat in Kermanshah, announced the deaths of several people in Kermanshah' and said that 'it is necessary to provide trailers or money to the earthquake victims as soon as possible so that they are not in these conditions and cold; although last night we had several fatalities due to frostbite.' The newspaper 'Aftab Yazd' dedicated its front page photo and headline to the news of a child's death in the earthquake-affected areas of Kermanshah province and wrote: 'On Wednesday, while a member of parliament was reporting on the deaths of several earthquake victims due to frostbite, Sarina's father was speaking to the conservative news agency Tasnim about how his daughter died from the cold, the governors of the Uramanat region denied any news in this regard.' This newspaper, referring to 'the fate of cash donations from the public to the earthquake victims collected by celebrities,' wrote: 'Where did all that money go?' The newspaper 'Etemad' reported that 'members of the Joint Commission of the Parliament on Wednesday continued to review the 97 budget of the country and examined the government's expenditure section for the next year and approved a plan under which individuals who wish to continue receiving subsidies next year must allow the government to monitor all their bank accounts.' According to this newspaper, 'members of the Joint Commission of the Parliament also suggested to those who do not wish their bank accounts to be scrutinized by the government to voluntarily withdraw from receiving subsidies and in return, the government would not interfere with their deposits in banks and financial institutions.' The newspaper 'Etemad' noted that 'the Joint Commission's resolution regarding conditional subsidies for the people has many supporters and opponents,' writing that some economists in favor of this resolution 'believe it is better for the government to seize the opportunity and defend this resolution in the Joint Commission and try to get a vote in the public session and identify those who have financial capability and whose monthly subsidy does not affect their lives.' Others, according to this newspaper, 'believe that the government should not accept this resolution and other resolutions that have caused the budget to undergo a 180-degree change and should be careful considering the social consequences of eliminating subsidies and the government's scrutiny of people's bank accounts so that the rival faction does not use the budget as a tool against the government. This group believes that since the president in the previous government stated that the scrutiny of people's bank accounts and the privacy of citizens is among the government's red lines, he should stick to this thinking and respond to his political rivals through this path.' 'Etemad' reminded that 'the scrutiny of bank accounts has been approved by the Joint Commission of the Parliament while previously Hassan Rouhani and his first deputy Eshaq Jahangiri had said that 'scrutinizing people's accounts is one of the red lines of his government' and even Rouhani in his 100-day report on December 5, 2013, stated that 'interfering in people's private lives and being informed about people's bank accounts may be useful for a short time and for a specific issue but will definitely harm the country. We must assure the people; people must trust the banking system; if we want to interfere in people's private lives like this, people's trust will be lost and economic prosperity will disappear.' Davood Soori, an economist and university professor, also wrote in the editorial of 'Etemad': 'There is no doubt that there are many individuals in the country for whom the 45,000 tomans subsidy does not solve any problems but continue to receive it, but the question is whether with resolutions like this, where individuals' accounts are scrutinized or their assets are identified, can millions of people who consciously registered for subsidies and according to some experts do not deserve it be prevented from receiving it?' However, the question is, 'Can this be done without social dialogue with the people and informing them about the economic realities of the country, taking back what the previous government generously gave to the people without political and social costs?' The editorial writer of this newspaper stated that the main goal of the government is to 'free itself from the financial burden of subsidies and use those resources for other needs like increasing the development budget and providing more help to the needy,' writing: 'Whether scrutinizing people's accounts is right or wrong is not the subject of this discussion, but the reality is that this action will not help the government reduce costs and increase revenues in the budget because the government and parliament wasted the opportunity in 2014 when the largest social capital existed and could not free themselves from paying subsidies or in other words, the monthly salary of 45,000 tomans to the people.' Davood Soori advised the government that now that 'social capital has somewhat decreased compared to those days (2014), it cannot easily eliminate subsidies and turn it into a fundamental issue of Iran's economy,' so 'it is better instead of this, the government and parliament focus their efforts on increasing revenue sources because this will lead to price corrections and also increase government revenue to meet its budgetary needs.' The newspaper 'Shargh' reported that 'the issue of Sina Ghanbari and the ambiguous circumstances of his death in Evin prison is being pursued by some other representatives (of the tenth parliament)' and 'following a correspondence from one of the representatives of the Hope faction, the head of the forensic medicine organization will soon provide information related to the medical file of Sina Ghanbari's death to the tenth parliament.' This newspaper pointed out that 'the members of the Hope faction do not intend to provide more information and details' in this regard, quoting Mahmoud Sadeghi: 'Another representative from the Hope faction has also requested a complete report on Sina Ghanbari's death from the head of the forensic medicine organization to be presented to the tenth parliament and reviewed in the parliament.' 'Shargh' also wrote: 'If the programs continue in this manner and no new discussions arise, next Sunday, members of parliament will head to Evin for a visit, and so far, the presence of some representatives from the Hope faction in this visiting delegation has been confirmed.' According to this newspaper, 'based on the agreements made, Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh, Javad Fathi, Mohammad Ali Vakili, and Hassan Kazemi will be present in the delegation visiting Evin prison,' and Fatemeh Saidi, who has been pursuing the release of prisoners since the day after the protests and arrests, has also said that 'there must be at least one woman present in this visiting delegation; however, the presence or absence of a woman in the visiting delegation to Evin has not yet been confirmed.' The newspaper 'Khorasan' reported on 'the Tehran governor's opposition to the resolution determining a location for protest gatherings' and wrote: 'The Tehran governor's matching board deemed the resolution obligating the municipality to determine a suitable location for holding protest gatherings as contrary to the law.' According to this newspaper, 'the legal basis for the matching board's ruling is paragraph 5 of the regulations on how to ensure the security of legal gatherings and marches, approved by the cabinet in 2002, which states that determining the location for gatherings is the responsibility of the security council.' Thus, the Tehran city council 'must consider this issue within 10 days from the date of receiving the notification.' On January 7, the Tehran city council approved a proposal by Ahmad Masjed-Jamei, which stated that the municipality was obliged to designate a location for citizens' protest gatherings within a month.' The newspaper 'Khorasan' wrote that the Tehran governor's opposition to this city council resolution occurred while Hossein Ali Amiri, the parliamentary assistant to Hassan Rouhani, supported 'designating a specific location for expressing public protests' and said: 'Article 27 of the Constitution gives people the right to hold gatherings to convey their message to the system and the ruling authority. Of course, these gatherings have been held more or less in front of the Parliament and the Presidency, and the emphasis and attention are that people can better, more, and more lawfully benefit from their rights according to the Constitution.' This newspaper also criticized Hossein Ashtari, the commander of the police force, for not responding to the media, stating: 'Journalists from media outlets and news agencies attended the 'press conference' of the country's police chief on Wednesday morning, while the senior police official of Iran, due to poor planning, only answered one question about recent gatherings after responding to the questions of the police reporter, and this 'standing few-minute conference' ended with many unanswered questions that the public was waiting for.' The newspaper 'Iran,' close to the government, quoted the spokesman of the Parliament's Article 90 Commission about 'the commission's entry into the recent unrest and riots in the country,' stating that Vali Dadashi, the representative of Astara in the tenth parliament, said: 'The Article 90 Commission will address the unrest and riots of the past weeks in some cities of the country. The examination of this case is set to begin in the coming days in the political-military committee of the commission, and if the subject is not confidential, the final report will be read in the public session.' The newspaper 'Shahrvand' reported on the 'order to stop government business operations,' stating that 'based on the president's order, three organizations, including the Martyrs Foundation, the Social Security Organization, and banks must divest their economic activities.' According to this newspaper, Mahmoud Vaezi, the head of Hassan Rouhani's office, stated on Wednesday on the sidelines of the cabinet meeting that 'the divestment of economic activities of institutions is not limited to military forces, and the president has issued a new order to reduce the involvement of some institutions in the economy.' The newspaper 'Shahrvand' also reported '36,442 suspicious deaths in one year' and quoted the head of the forensic medicine organization stating: 'Among all the lifeless bodies referred to us last year (2016), 36,442 cases of unnatural deaths were determined.' Ahmad Shojaei, the head of the forensic medicine organization, also stated: 'The statistics of injuries from conflicts are terrifying, amounting to 390,773 people. In this statistic, women and men are close to each other; that is, 124,259 women and 266,514 men were injured due to the use of cold weapons. This indicates that women have also engaged in fights.'