Outbreak of Lung Disease Related to Miners Among Tehran Residents

The newspaper Arman has dedicated its front page to the accused in the oil corruption case from the previous administration, referring to the "confirmation of the death sentence for Babak Zanjani". On Saturday, Gholamreza Ansari, Deputy Supervisor of the Supreme Court, announced the confirmation of the death sentence for Babak Zanjani, the primary accused in the oil corruption case. According to this newspaper, the Deputy Supervisor also stated that "the death sentences for Mehdi Shams and Hamid Fallah Heravi, the second and third accused in the oil corruption case, have been annulled and referred to a parallel branch." The newspaper notes that Babak Zanjani and his accomplices are accused of "a debt of over 2.5 billion euros to the Ministry of Oil and the Central Bank, as well as forgery of bank documents by bribing the National Bank of Tajikistan". It is reported that "according to some members of parliament like Amir Abbas Soltani, several ministers including the Minister of Finance, the Head of the Central Bank, and the Minister of Oil" from the previous government were complicit in these violations. Ni'mat Ahmad, a lawyer and legal expert, wrote in a note in Arman about the fate of Babak Zanjani's debt to the Ministry of Oil, stating: "Certainly, these amounts were invested in projects, and since Babak Zanjani was arrested, his connection with the investors and his contracts were severed, and the mentioned assets were also stolen by the stakeholders of this case. However, the confirmation of Zanjani's death sentence will bring joy to some, and nothing will change in this case because with his arrest, the link between Babak Zanjani and other individuals involved in this case was effectively cut off." This legal expert emphasized that "given that Babak Zanjani was a trustee of the Ministry of Oil during Ahmadinejad's administration, he should have been kept under supervision within the same working group, as controlling Zanjani's foreign and domestic actions and contracts could have led to more clues and quicker results. Thus, at least part of Zanjani's debt could have been recoverable." The newspaper Shargh raised the question of whether "execution translates to money?" and published the opinions of experts and politicians from both conservative and reformist factions regarding Babak Zanjani and his death sentence, quoting Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari, the Minister of Interior during Mohammad Khatami's presidency, stating: "Regarding the case of Babak Zanjani, aside from the sentence issued against him, what is essential is the return of the people's assets and public funds to their rightful owners. Because the figures involved in this case are in the billions of dollars, and executing one or even several people will not return these assets." Mohammad Taqi Rahbar, a former parliament representative and a conservative cleric, also stated: "We must go back and take another look at our laws and pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of the laws; otherwise, executing will not solve anything. However, if we do not stop the factors that lead to corruption, our work will resemble whitewashing." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, with the headline "The Final Judgment for Babak", wrote: "Iran's major oil debtor has finally reached the final stages of his case. Now he stands at the gallows of the economy. The judges of the Supreme Court have confirmed the death sentence issued by the judge in Babak Zanjani's case, meaning his death sentence is now executable unless his lawyers decide to invoke Article 18 and request the personal intervention of the head of the judiciary in the case." This newspaper implicitly referred to the fate of part of Babak Zanjani's ruling regarding the rejection of debt as ambiguous, stating: "However, it remains to be seen how the important issue of 'rejection of property', which was also considered in his conviction, will be implemented" since "a significant amount of public property is in Babak Zanjani's hands, and it should be seen whether the necessary groundwork for recovering his assets has been laid or not." The newspaper Shahre Vahdat has a report about the outbreak of "miners' disease among Tehran residents" and stated: "Annually, 90 patients suffering from anthracosis are admitted to Masih Daneshvari and Khomeini hospitals in Tehran." Shideh Lalemi wrote in this report: "Anthracosis, or black lung disease, which some doctors refer to as black lung disease, is common among coal miners, and cases of this disease have not been reported worldwide for years. For this reason, in developed countries, scientific centers and hospitals that specialize in respiratory and lung diseases have long ceased new research on this disease. While the world has forgotten about black lung disease, in Tehran, a city that has no coal mines, doctors are now dealing with cases that show that Tehran residents have contracted the disease of coal miners." The head of the air pollution and occupational diseases research unit at Masih Daneshvari Hospital told Shahre Vahdat: "In our recent investigations, we found that about 30 people are also admitted with this disease at Imam Khomeini Hospital annually. This is a significant statistic. There may be patients with this disease recognized in other hospitals as well, and we may not be aware of it. Many patients may not even be recognized, meaning they may have contracted this disease but because they do not reach the bronchoscopy stage in treatment, their illness goes undiagnosed, so this disease may be more prevalent than we think." The head of the air pollution and occupational diseases research unit at Masih Daneshvari Hospital also stated: "Anthracosis is a lung disease that is often diagnosed through bronchoscopy. In fact, when they see inside the lungs and airways filled with black particles and grains, this disease is diagnosed, and from this perspective, it is a dangerous disease that can destroy lung tissue." The newspaper Shahre Vahdat emphasized that the main culprit behind the outbreak of this disease is "the dense black particles that gradually settle in our breaths and blacken our lungs and make our breathing difficult," stating that this main culprit is "carbon" or soot, which used to settle on the coal dust and rested on the breaths of miners. It stated: "What air pollution does to human health and how it can jeopardize the health of one or several generations is frequently heard in the speeches and statements of officials during polluted days of the year and also during election campaigns. However, how much they practically pay attention to air pollution is evident from the fact that a large part of the laws and programs to reduce air pollution, which have practical impacts on air quality, have been passed from this drawer to that library and from the library of one organization to the archives of another for years." The newspaper Hamdeli has focused on the statement from the Special Prosecutor's Office for the Clergy in Qom in response to the reactions to the prison sentence issued for Ahmad Montazeri, stating: "The Special Prosecutor's Office for the Clergy in Qom issued a statement after the publication of the first-instance ruling against Ahmad Montazeri, the son of the late Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, for actions against national security through the publication of confidential documents and some rumors in this regard, emphasizing that Ahmad Montazeri and 'some known individuals are attempting to portray themselves as victims and justify their criminal actions against the foundations of the system and national security through creating waves and accusations.'" The Special Prosecutor's Office in Qom described the 21-year prison sentence, of which 6 years will be enforced, and the suspension of his clerical robe for three years as 'preliminary' and 'subject to appeal', but simultaneously threatened that "the judicial system will decisively deal with any actions and propaganda against the system and the revolution, regardless of pressures and media campaigns, and will monitor and decisively address the recent actions and provocations." In the statement from the Special Prosecutor's Office in Qom, the publication of the audio file of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri's objections to the executions of 1988 was described as "an action against the national security of the country and an attempt to whitewash and portray the Mojahedin [People's Mujahedin of Iran] as victims," stating that such actions are "not to be overlooked." The newspaper Shargh reported that Mohammad Reza Tooyserkani, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Basij Organization, stated: "The Supreme Leader's opinion is in favor of house arrest, and so do the well-meaning individuals of the Islamic Revolution, and we consider the house arrest of the leaders of the sedition as a mercy. If they move towards trial, these gentlemen must be held accountable for all the crimes committed in 2009 regarding the killed and wounded and damage to public property and the economic issues of the country and tarnishing the reputation of the system, etc." Previously, Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran in the tenth parliament, also stated regarding the reason for the continued house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been under house arrest since February 14, 2011, that the opinion of Ali Khamenei is in favor of continuing the house arrest, and therefore the government has no ability to intervene in the issue of lifting the house arrest. Mohammad Reza Tooyserkani also stated: "Our presidential elections must be a revolutionary election against deviations, corruptions, and damages. This widespread corruption in our management system, corruption in banks, and this elitism among officials, astronomical salaries, and the situation we see inside the country require a revolution to preserve the clear line of the Islamic Revolution. Those who will take responsibility in the future must fight seriously against all these issues. We need a real and comprehensive transformation, and some of these old and senior figures must step aside, and a new generation of the Islamic Revolution must come to the forefront." In this context, the fate of the JCPOA in Iranian newspapers, the "arrest warrant" for Mahmoud Sadeghi, and the fact that 14% of addicts are between 15 and 19 years old have also been highlighted.