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Iranian Female Campaigner Calls for Vote Boycott

A woman walks past parliamentary election campaign posters in Tehran, Iran February 19, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Nazanin Tabatabaee via REUTERS
A woman walks past parliamentary election campaign posters in Tehran, Iran February 19, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Nazanin Tabatabaee via REUTERS
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Iranian Female Campaigner Calls for Vote Boycott

A woman walks past parliamentary election campaign posters in Tehran, Iran February 19, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Nazanin Tabatabaee via REUTERS
A woman walks past parliamentary election campaign posters in Tehran, Iran February 19, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Nazanin Tabatabaee via REUTERS

Shaparak Shajarizadeh once believed in the potential for change in Iran but is now so despondent she is calling for a boycott of Friday's parliamentary elections.

"The Iranian people lost their hopes... I was among those who had some hopes. But now it is like choosing between bad and worse," the 44-year-old women's rights campaigner told AFP in Geneva, where she was attending an annual conference for human rights activists.

Shajarizadeh said the supposed political choice in Iran between reformist and conservative politicians was like picking between "two faces of the same coin".

Thousands of reformist and moderate candidates are in any case being barred from contesting the elections -- something that critics say could turn the vote into a choice between conservatives and ultra-conservatives.

Iranians "lost their hopes," particularly after a bloody crackdown last year on fuel-price protests, she said.

Shajarizadeh calls President Hassan Rohani, who was first elected in 2013 and again in 2017 and was once seen as a possible force for change, a "so-called reformer".

During her visit to Geneva, Shajarizadeh received a prize for her defense of women's rights in Iran but she talks about herself as an ordinary person whose life changed completely when she decided to join the protest.

She was arrested three times and beaten for her defiance.

Shajarizadeh decided to run away, crossing the mountains into Turkey on foot. She now lives in Toronto in Canada with her husband and their 11-year-old son.

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Russia Stages First Missile Attack on Kyiv Since August

Rescuers work at a site of a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine August 27. REUTERS/Stringer
Rescuers work at a site of a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine August 27. REUTERS/Stringer
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Russia Stages First Missile Attack on Kyiv Since August

Rescuers work at a site of a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine August 27. REUTERS/Stringer
Rescuers work at a site of a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine August 27. REUTERS/Stringer

Blasts boomed across Kyiv on Wednesday morning after officials said Russia launched its first missile attack on the Ukrainian capital since August, forcing elderly women and small children to take shelter in an underground metro station.
Ukrainians have been waiting for a big missile attack for months, worried that it could deal a new blow to the hobbled energy system and cause long blackouts as winter sets in.
Air defenses intercepted two incoming cruise missiles, two ballistic missiles and 37 drones across the country, the air force said. No casualties or major damage were reported in Kyiv.
"Putin is launching a missile attack on Kyiv right now," Andriy Yermak, the head of the president's office, wrote on Telegram.
Falling debris came down in the region outside Kyiv, injuring a 48-year-old man and causing a fire at a warehouse, the head of Kyiv region's administration said.
Kyiv has faced Russian drone attacks almost nightly for weeks. City mayor Vitali Klitschko said a drone was still flying over central Kyiv in the morning.
"Explosions in the city. Air defense forces are working. Stay in shelters!" the Kyiv city administration wrote on Telegram.
Around 100 residents took shelter in the central metro station Universitet, including small children sleeping on yoga mats and elderly women sitting on fold-out chairs.
Some complained of a lack of sleep from the regular drone attacks, which trigger the air raid alert that sounds across the city and buzzes on phones.
"The mornings are totally ruined. I started college in September and every morning has been ruined by the bloody Russians. I cannot sleep, cannot think and I drink energy drinks all the time," said Mykyta, a teenager hugging his dog in the metro.
MASSIVE ATTACK
Russia targeted Ukrainian power facilities with strikes earlier this year, causing blackouts. The situation has since improved, but officials believe the Kremlin may plan to attack the grid again soon.
Andrii Kovalenko, a senior official at the National Security and Defence Council, warned that Russia was ready to conduct another "massive" attack and had accumulated a large number of cruise missiles.
After Wednesday's strike, power grid operator Ukrenergo said it would limit electricity supply for businesses due to "significantly" lower power imports and lower generation.
The last time restrictions on power supplies were imposed on both businesses and households was after a big Russian missile and drone attack in late August.
It was unclear whether the new restrictions were linked to the latest attack. Ukraine's largest private power generator and distributor DTEK said the restrictions would apply to Kyiv, the surrounding region and the regions of Odesa, Dnipro and Donetsk.
Despite regular drone attacks, Russia has not struck Kyiv with missiles since Aug. 26 when it launched a massive attack across the country that officials said deployed more than 200 drones and missiles. That attack killed seven people, Ukraine said.