According to the pro-reform IranWire outlet, which posted a video of the incident, an Iranian state broadcaster was apparently hacked during its nightly news programme on Saturday, October 08, 2022.
According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the 9 p.m. newscast by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN) under the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) was briefly hacked by anti-revolutionary elements.
The now-viral video shows IRIB/IRINN broadcasting a programme about Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attending a meeting in the southern city of Bushehr, which was cut short by a video of a cartoon mask with a beard and heavy brows against a black backdrop.
After the video of the mask, there was a screen with images of four young ladies who had just passed away in Iran: Nika Shahkarami, Hadis Najafi, Mahsa Amini, and Sarina Esmailzadeh, coupled with a picture of Khamenei with a target overlaid on his face.
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After being imprisoned by morality police, Amini, 22, passed away. The protest movement that has emerged since Amini’s death claimed the lives of the other three, two of whom were only teenagers.
The words “Join us and rise up” and “The blood of our youth is dripping from your grip” were displayed next to the images on the screen, along with the social media handles for the hacking collective Edaalat-e Ali, also known as Ali’s Justice.
By uploading the video to their social media account and writing, “On the desire of the people, we fulfilled our promise and accomplished the unthinkable to free Iran,” Edaalat-e Ali appeared to claim responsibility for the hack.
Iran has been engulfed in nationwide protests for weeks following the death of Amini, who was detained by the government’s morality police for ostensibly not donning her hijab properly before being killed. Authorities and protesters have engaged in violent battles since her death, which have reportedly resulted in scores of fatalities.
