Pierluigi Paganini February 13, 2023

The Ali’s Justice (Edalat-e Ali) hacker group broke into the State TV broadcast during the President’s speech on Revolution Day.

A collective of hackers that calls itself Ali’s Justice (Edalat-e Ali) disrupted the transmission of an Iranian State TV and radio station and aired the slogan “Death to Khamenei” asking Iranians to withdraw their money from government banks. The attack took place during the speech of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi at Azadi Square in Tehran as part of the Revolution Day commemoration, on February 11th, 2023.

The hackers called to action the citizens to protest against the government and invited them to participate in the public demonstration that will be held on February 16th, 2023.

“[Raisi] His live televised speech was interrupted on the internet for about a minute, with a logo appearing on the screen of a group of anti-Iranian government hackers that goes by the name of “Edalate Ali (Justice of Ali). A voice shouted “Death to the Islamic Republic.” reported the Reuters.

Edalat-e Ali is a group of hacktivists that conducted multiple attacks against the government of Teheran.

The protests began after the death of Mahsa Amini from Saqqez in Kurdistan province after her arrest by Iran’s morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab too loosely. The authorities claimed Amini died of natural causes after suffering heart failure while it was at the police station, but citizens don’t believe this is the truth and moved the protests to the streets (September 2022 Iranian protests).

In September 2022, Anonymous launched OpIran against Iran due to the ongoing crackdown on dissent after Mahsa Amini’s death.

The HackRead website, which reported the news along with other media, shared the video message that was transmitted by the hackers.

The Edalat-e Ali group claimed the responsibility for the attack on its Telegram channel.

“We the Adalat Ali group hacked the Islamic Republic of Iran’s TV and Radio transmission. First of all, the Adalat Ali group offers its condolences to the entire freedom-loving nation on the decade of dawn and the impure arrival of Khomeini the executioner to Iran.”Edalat-e Ali“

Rights group HRANA said that as of Friday, 528 protesters had been killed, including 71 minors. The government has already arrested around 20,000 protesters.

In October 2022, the Edalat-e Ali group interrupted the Iran State-Run TV’s live transmission in another attack.

In September 2022, global internet monitor NetBlocks reported a near-total disruption to internet service in parts of Kurdistan province in western Iran from the evening of Monday 19 September 2022.

“The regional telecommunications blackout in and around Sanandaj follows a partial disruption to internet service in Tehran and other parts of the country on Friday when protests first broke out. Instagram and WhatsApp, two of the last remaining international platforms in Iran, have subsequently been restricted nationally as of Wednesday 21 September, followed by a nation-scale shutdown of mobile networks.” reported NetBlocks. Daily curfew-style mobile internet disruptions have continued until 4 October 2022. The incidents come amid widening protests against the government after the death of Mahsa Amini.”

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Iranian State TV)